Mayday
by RossLover2012
Summary: Ally Dawson's fear of flying becomes reality when the plane holding her and her classmates crashes on it's way to California. Will they be able to survive all of the obstacles they are about to face, and will they be able to get over their high school labels and fight together to survive? Better than it sounds! Auslly! OOC! Give it a chance! Rated T for a reason!
1. Chapter 1

**This is my new story, i'm pretty excited about. I'm also the author of, Are You Afraid? It's sequel, Alone In The Dark. And also, It's Got To Be You, and We've Got Tonight. I'm also writing Don't Let Me Fall.**

**Don't Let Me Fall is my main focus right now, so i will not be updating this one too quickly. I hope you like it, please review!**

I've never really enjoyed traveling. In a car, I could stand that, but flying on a plane? No. I've always been terrified actually, and that's why I've never went on one. But there's a school trip for one of my classes, biology class to be exact, and at the end of my freshmen school year, we're going to California to go to one of the largest aquariums in the world, and I just can't decline such an opportunity.

There are 14 other kids in my class that are going, and luckily one of them is my best friend Trish. She's the only one that I am close with that's going, so I'm glad she's in this class. Trish is loud, not afraid to tell it like it is, and all around a great person. She's one of the only people I trust in this cruel place we call high school.

There is also Stacy, she's not too bad, and I've only talked to her a couple of times. She's shy, and so am I, but she's worse. She hides behind her straight strawberry blonde hair, and only has one friend; her diary. Well, I assume it's a diary. It's sort of like my songbook, I carry that around everywhere too, but she writes in her diary _all_ the time. Sometimes the teachers have to call her name multiple times to get her attention, and they threaten to take her book away, and you should see her face when they say that. Once, I thought she was going to turn into the incredible hulk or something.

Also in my class, there is Thomas. He's a tall, scrawny boy, who's youngest in our grade. He has a lot of friends, but I wouldn't call him popular really. Most of his friends are the kids none of the popular kids would even give the time of day, but hey, friends are friends, right? He's also the smartest kid in our class, just a few grade points above me, I might add.

There's the prettiest and most popular girl in this classroom, which would be Caroline. A lot of girls in our grade are jealous of her, she has platinum blonde wavy hair that falls to her lower back, big bright blue eyes, and perfect skin and I guess I should add that she gets all the boys too, oh and she's cheer captain. I'm not the jealous type, and I also don't see her as the perfect person everyone makes her out to be. I think being perfect is more than just _looking_ perfect. I think you should at least have a _perfect_ personality too, and she has one far from that. She acts all nice and thoughtful in front of teachers, which is why she's the teacher's pet in most of her classes (I sadly have two other classes with her) but if you do something she doesn't like, like say, accidently run into her, or ask to borrow a pencil, she gives you a death glare and tells you how much of a horrible person you are. She also breaks boy's hearts, which is another reason I don't understand why guys go for her.

And last but not least, Austin Moon. Austin's _thee_ popular kid. He's the quarterback of the Varsity football team, he's the golden boy. All of his teacher's love him, and he's already being considered for football scholarships for collage, and he's only going to be a sophomore. He has shaggy blonde hair, and golden brown eyes. He has a great sense of style, and he's well, sometimes full of himself. I heard a rumor he likes to sing, but he'd never admit to it. I have to admit, I enjoy staring at him when he doesn't notice, he has model look. Last semester I had gym with him, and one day we all went swimming, and I had to pry my eyes off of his six pack. But, he doesn't give me the time of day, ever. We've said hi to each other occasionally and he's borrowed my pencils before, but nothing more than that. I heard Caroline is crushing on him, so I have a feeling they will be the new couple. I mean, their a perfect match, right?

And me, I'm just Ally Dawson, the shy, smart girl with stage fright who writes songs in her songbook and sticks to having one friend. I'm not popular, and I'm far from athletic, which means there are no boys that are interested in me. Well actually, I think this boy Chad had a crush on me once, but he's 15, and still picks his nose, therefore, I'm not that desperate.

I don't know much about the other kids in my class, since I'm usually sat in the front, and we can't socialize much when the teacher's attention is always on you. But like that would make a difference, I'm not popular; no one wants to talk to me. And that's my life in classroom 14.

It's the morning of the big day, the day I face my biggest fear, my fear that's bigger than singing on stage in front of people; flying. I packed all of my stuff last night, and my father gave me different pep talks, telling me I didn't have to go, and maybe we can drive down there someday and go to the same aquarium, because he knows how afraid I am, but I promised myself I wouldn't chicken out, I am going to do this.

My father drops me off at the school, where we are all meeting up and then taking a van to the airport. When I walk over to the group, I realize someone's missing, _Trish_ is missing. I look all around and I don't see her, I decide to wait a few minutes, maybe she's just running late.

But when we start putting the luggage in the van, I grab my phone out of my bag and call her.

"Hello?" She answers.

"Where are you?" I practically scream into the phone, "We're about to leave to the airport."

Coughing from her end starts, loud, obnoxious coughing, "I can't go I'm sick. I'm really sorry." She says.

I practically drop the phone. She was the one person that will actually get me through this trip, and now she's not going, what am I supposed to do? Our teacher, Mrs. Paxton, who is also our chaperone, gives me an evil eye so I hang up on Trish. This is going to just suck now. I sigh and drag over my bag, which is too heavy, and I think I may have over packed. I try lifting it into the trunk of the van, but I'm not strong enough. I try lifting it again and it suddenly gets light, and when I look up, Austin Moon is lifting the other side of it, lifting all of the weight. I just look at him and he smiles at me as we lay it down in the back.

"Uh thanks." I say awkwardly.

"No problem." He says with the same smile. His smile is seriously the best smile I've ever laid my eyes on, I could stare at it forever…

He walks away from me now, back to Caroline and this other boy, I don't remember his name. I can't help thinking that those are two new words that Austin Moon has said to me. But, it's probably the only two words he will say to me on this entire trip, but it's whatever, I really don't care.

I sit next to Stacy on the ride to the airport. She ignores me, and everyone, of course. She writes with intense speed in her book and I'm almost tempted to lean over and take a peak, but I know I hate it if people read or ever touch my songbook, so I'm not going to try. I really wonder what goes on inside that head of hers, though.

The ride to the airport seems short, and I find myself in a panic when we're walking into the airport. I find myself wanting to back out, too. I shouldn't be doing this, what if I freak out, what if I have a panic attack on the plane In front of everyone? It'd get around the whole school and then I'd become an even bigger joke than I already am.

The reason I have stage fright, goes back to first grade. I was the star in a musical, and this really mean girl Pauline bullied me. I know right, 1st grade and your already a bully? Anyways, right when I was doing the big part of it, where I had my singing solo, I was tripped by her in front of everyone, and all of my friends laughed, and since then, I can't go on stage. I'm too afraid of being humiliated again.

We are given our tickets and everyone asks each other where they're sitting. They are all happy to be seated next to their friends, or crushes. But when I look at my ticket, I don't even think of asking whose sitting next to me. I just want it to be Trish, she was supposed to slap me out of my freak out stage of taking off and landing, but now, that's gone.

I go to my seat, and I take the one by the window. I sit down patiently, waiting for the person to sit next to me. I figure it will be Stacy, which I guess I won't mind, I'll just be ignored the whole time. Or, maybe it will be Thomas, which will be annoying, but anything's better than like Caroline.

I see Austin walk down the plane, and I expect him to go sit next to Caroline, she just took a seat up towards the front, but what he does, I don't expect. He walks over, and takes the seat next to me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Since i already got a good amount of reviews on my first chapter, and i updated my other ones, i figured i'd give you guys another chapter. But don't expect fast updates all of the time. Enjoy! Review!**

I watch him sit down, with his headphones already glued to his ears. He's going through his Ipod, his thumb gliding slowly across the touch screen. I look away from him, my shyness appearing when I realized he saw me looking. I put my focus onto the window, and watch the other planes be loaded up with passengers. I can't help but think that Caroline probably hates this, him sitting with me. But he probably hates it, too. Because it's obvious he didn't choose to be seated next to me. It just happens to be where he was put.

After a long agonizing eight whole minutes, the flight attendants voice appears over head, telling us to put on our seatbelts because we are about to take off. Austin's music is noticeably loud, and he doesn't move, so I assume he hasn't heard the announcement. I put on my seatbelt, and tighten it as tight as it can go, and I hesitate, take a deep breath and tap him on the shoulder.

He turns to me, and takes out a head phone, "Yeah?" He asks, in a monotone.

"You need to put your seat belt on. We are about to take off." I say in an odd voice. I'm nervous when I talk to him, for some reason.

He smiles, "Oh. Thanks." And with that he puts his seat belt on.

I'm in panic mode now, my fears hitting me at once. Is take off going to be freaky? I wouldn't know. I know that Trish would be in totally therapist mode right now, but she isn't here. I have to deal with this myself. I stare straight ahead at the back of the seat in front of me and start breathing lightly in and out. Now, I assumed Austin went back to his headphone world and would have no idea what's going on with me, until I look in the corner of my eye and he's staring at me.

I stop my probably freaky looking breathing and turn to him. The plane is moving, taking off, and I try so hard to pretend it's not happening.

"Are you okay?" He asks me.

"Me? Fine." I say, with strong breathing in between.

"You've never flown before have you?" He asks. But I don't see even a touch of humor in his question.

I just shake my head and turn my attention back to the seat. Eventually, the plane is flying smoothly, and what I thought was terrible, was over in a matter of seconds. My breathing slowly goes back to normal while Austin still stares at me in what seems like concern.

"We're fine now. We're up in the air. Everything's going to be fine now." He says nicely.

"Until landing." I sigh.

"It's really not that bad; Just a little bumpy." He says.

The conversation sort of just, drifts off, and Austin puts his music back on, but only puts one headphone in. His ear facing me is free, maybe in case I freak out again? I don't know. I decide to grab my songbook out of my bag and look through it. I haven't had much inspiration to write a new song lately, and I don't really know why. I put it away after a few minutes, bored of it already. I wish I had brought my ipod, I totally forgot it on my desk. I lean back on the seat and sigh, staring at the ceiling. I turn my head to Austin and he's already looking at me again.

"Are you bored?" He asks.

I nod. "You didn't bring an ipod or anything?" he asks me.

"No, I forgot it." I say sadly.

He then switches his earphones, and hands me his free one. He wants me to listen to music with him, and this means I'll have to lean in closer to him, since his headphone chord isn't very long. I wonder how Caroline would feel about this, and I wonder why Austin, the jock, Mr. Popular, is even paying attention to me at all, but man, I'll take what I can get.

I grab the head phone and cautiously put it into my ear, just in case this is a sick joke and it explodes. I lean in near Austin, and our shoulders are touching. I think of how our music type probably isn't the same, and I may get bored soon. But after the first song plays, and I already love it, I have a good feeling about this.

A few hours into the ride, and we find out we are into the same exact music, and we're both ecstatic about it. After we start to replay our favorite songs, I find myself drifting off to sleep, but I force my eyes to stay open. What if I fall asleep on his shoulder and he like hates it and pushes me off? But I'm so tired…

Eventually I do fall asleep, and yeah that's right, on his shoulder. I'm awaken not too long after by someone loudly coughing, and I look over to see that it is Caroline, staring right at us, fake coughing to purposely wake me up, but when I move my head up to look at Austin, he's asleep; which means he obviously didn't mind me falling asleep on him. I can't help my evil smile, Caroline, miss popular, is jealous of _me_.

I sit back up, and stretch, and that's when the plan sudden jerks to the side slightly. I think I felt my heart stop right there. Austin jumps awake, his face all sleepy and his hair messed up and looks around. I grab on to the arm of my chair and look around wide eyed. No one else really reacted much, just a little surprised, but not in full out panic mode like me.

Austin turns to me and sees the horror in my face, "It's fine, things like this happen sometimes." He says.

I nod, but that's when the plane does it again, and my eyes are about to bulge out of my head, "Sorry folks, we're going through a small storm, everything's fine. Keep tight." The pilot says.

"See, we're fine." Austin says in a reassuring voice.

I nod, "Sure sure." I say breathlessly.

After a few minutes of being still, I figured everything was okay, until the plane starts to shake, like there's an earthquake or something. It shakes for only about 30 seconds, but it mind as well have been a year. My grip tightens on the arm, and my knuckles start to turn white. Austin looks around, watching other people's reactions. I think they are starting to panic a little, especially the woman in front of us. She's nudging her husband awake, asking him what's going on.

Suddenly, the plane feels like it drops a few feet, like when you're on an elevator and you feel it fall underneath you. This sends my stomach in knots and I jerk forward on my seat. Austin's arm falls in front of me, stopping me from falling too far forward. I can feel his arm on my stomach, "Are you okay?" He asks.

I nod, "What's going on?" I ask in a whiney voice, too afraid to hide my tremendous amount of fear.

"I-I don't know." He stutters.

The plane does it again, and then jerks to the side, while shaking, _all_ at once. A flight attendant voice appears out of nowhere and tells us to put our seat belts on. I start to freak out, my breathing becoming hard, and I struggle to put my seatbelt on, my hands shaking too much to focus on anything. Austin puts his on quickly and notices my struggling. I'm shaking so violently that the seatbelt falls out of my hands. Austin quickly grabs my trembling hands and moves them to my sides, and he securely clicks the belt into place.

The plane keeps doing random horrible jerks forward and downward, and everyone starts to panic. An elderly couple in the back starts yelling at a flight attendant, asking what's going on, and she runs into the front of the plane. I can hear Stacy complaining behind me because she can't write in her diary, and Caroline is yelling at her seat buddy, Thomas.

Flashes of light appear everywhere, and that's how I know we're in the middle of lightening. The plane starts to tremble and this time, it's _bad_. Our emergency oxygen masks fall out at our heads, and when I can feel the plane falling, and I mean_ falling _downward. This is when I realize the horrible truth of this situation, we're _crashing_.

Everyone's screaming, and the plane is making terrible noises. Tears start to stream down my face as I watch everything that's going on around me and that's when I feel something, and I look down and it's Austin's hand, grabbing mine. I turn to face him and that's when I see his face, for the first time ever, full of fear. And this is when I know, things are bad.


	3. Chapter 3

**Your reviews mean so much to me. :)**

The plane starts to fall down faster, as if the pilot has no control, which he obviously doesn't. People start screaming, and I even heard a toddler in the back start to cry. And I look at Austin, whose still looking at me, and I can't help thinking he's the last face I'm going to see before I die. And apparently he thinks the same thing, because he keeps his hand on mine and he leans in, and kisses me softly, just for a second. I stare at him in shock, but that's when we hit the ground. The impact is hard, and I'm instantly knocked out.

When I wake up, I'm gasping for air, like I just died and came back to life, like I was just holding my breath underwater for too long and finally got out. The sky is bright, and I'm surrounded by very tall grass. The pain in my head is strong, and the brightness of the sun doesn't help it. I look down and realize I'm still strapped securely in my seat, except I'm alone, and the seat is too. Austin's seat is gone, and nothings around me. I was thrown from the plane, and yet I'm still alive. But is Austin?

The seatbelt is around my hips, and it's so tight into me that I see blood; it's imbedded into my skin on my left side. I tug at it and scream in pain. I keep tugging at it until it comes free, blood starting to gush. After many failed attempts of unbuckling my seatbelt, it finally works and I fall out of my chair and onto the grass.

I lie down on my side and stare into the tall grass that's surrounding me. How did this happen, why did this happen to me, of all times I decided to fly, my fear becomes real. But how is everyone else? Are they alive? I need to check, but I don't have ambition to move, I just want to lay here and pretend everything's okay. Maybe it's a dream and I'll wake up soon.

I close my eyes and imagine myself back home, hanging out with Trish or eating just baked cookies- Trish. I'm so glad she got sick and couldn't come, she could be dead right now, but she's safe at home and that's a huge relief. I try to go back to my imaginary world when I hear someone calling my name.

"Ally!" the boy yells, his voice cracking.

I sit up slowly and try poke my head over the grass, and I notice Austin stumbling in my direction, "Austin!" I yell to him. He looks around and finally sees me and jogs over. He kneels down next to me and notices my bleeding side, "Oh God Ally!" he says, and I swear he's holding back tears.

"It's not that bad, compared to your head." I tell him. He has a cut on his forehead, some of the blood is already dry around it, and in his bangs, and fresh blood drops down his cheek.

"I'm fine." He says, and rips a piece of his plaid long sleeve shirt on the bottom and applies it gently to my side.

"I can't believe we're alive." I tell him.

"I know." He says with such relief, "But not all of us were lucky." He says with slight horror in his eyes.

"Who-Who's gone?" I ask him.

He shrugs, "I can't find a lot of people. The only ones I know that are alive is Caroline, Thomas, two teenage girls, an older man, and 4 others from our class."

"That's it?" I ask him, shocked.

He nods and continues to soak up blood from my wound. I just study his face while he focuses on my cut. And then it hits me, how he kissed me before we crashed, and I decide I'm not going to bring that up. He probably was just reacting to the moment, maybe he thought I never had my first kiss and felt bad that I'd die without it, and it's true, he was my first kiss. But he's Austin Moon, the golden boy, he'd never like me.

He helps me up and we walk towards where everyone is. There is a piece of plane that I notice, it's a decent piece that isn't all crushed up and broken, and I run over to it, ignoring Austin's pleas to stay with him. I walk into it, it'd make a good shelter, since we obviously aren't going to be getting out of here tonight. I walk towards the back, and I see a person. When I notice the strawberry blonde hair, a sick feeling comes to my stomach. I reply the names that Austin said were alive in my mind, and Stacy wasn't one of them.

"Ally, just come here." He says from outside of the plane.

I walk over slowly, and Stacy's still strapped into her seat, except she's defiantly gone. The horror that's stuck on her face is almost overbearing to look at, and the blue color her whole body is now is sickening. I run out of the plane, past Austin and over to a clear spot where I can collect myself.

I start to hyperventilate and run my hands through my hair, pulling slightly. I look all around, and Caroline is staring at me, and so is the other kids I've never seen before. I start to cry, and I can't help the sobbing sounds from escaping me. Why did Stacy have to die? Sure, we weren't really friends, but she didn't deserve this. Why do we get to live but she doesn't?

Austin stands a few feet away from me cautiously, staring at me with sad eyes. Why doesn't he leave me alone? Why is he suddenly acting like we're best friends or something? We're not; he's the golden boy, I'm Ally the loser. He walks over to me and tries to hug me but I punch at his chest and scream, "Leave me alone!" I cry harder.

But he's stronger than me; he keeps me to his chest until I finally break down and let him embrace me. I fall into his arms and cry harder. I just want to go home, I want everything to be okay, but it's far from that. I can see Caroline giving me and Austin the evil eye from a distance away, but I'm too upset to care.

I don't really know what happens next, it's like I just slip away from my own mind or something, everything's blurry and people try to talk to me but I can't respond, I think I may be in shock. Austin moves me to the piece of plane, and they must have moved Stacy because she's gone. Austin sets up a seat into a sort of bed, and gets a blanket from his suitcase he must have found earlier. He lays me down slightly and covers me with the blanket, but I just stare at the broken window next to me.

"Ally, please talk." He says, and I ignore him.

After a while I drift off to sleep, and when I wake up, I'm alone in the plane, and darkness settles around me. How long have I been asleep?

I take the blanket off me and set it down where I was, I have a feeling that may be my new bed until we find out a way to get rescued.

I walk out of the plane and everything's silent. I catch a light in the corner of my eye and I see a fire in the distance. I walk over to it, and everyone's sitting around it. Caroline is right next to Austin, as close as they can be seated together. Thomas is talking to the two teenage girls that survived the crash, they are twins. And the older man that survived too is studying some plants. The others are off on their own, doing who knows what. Austin notices my presence and glances up at me, but then glances at the fire.

I turn around and walk back to the piece of plane, and decide to look and see if my luggage is in there. It's better than sitting at the fire with them, because even though we're all together stranded who knows where, and all survivors of a terrible thing, we're all still in our clichés, the populars, and the loners.

I find a huge bin full of food, beef jerky and dried fruits, it should last us quite a while. I find a name on the side of it, it says Mrs. Paxton, our teacher, our chaperone. She's gone, too. I fight back tears, and throw the bin outside of the plane in the good pile of things I'm collecting. I find a suit case that belongs to Thomas, and throw it outside too. After a while of throwing items out of the plane, people start to notice what I'm doing and venture over. Before I know it, Thomas and the two twins are helping me go through things, collecting useable items.

Thomas declares that we should go throw the people who have died suitcases, only for useful things like food and stuff, and though it sickens me, I let him do it. A lot of people brought UN opened snacks of food with them, and we add it to Mrs. Paxton's bin. After a while, Austin joins us too, and he finds his backpack, and ventures off with it. Caroline hasn't moved from her spot at the fire, she's just staring at it, and it's not because she's hurt that she's not helping, she's just a lazy selfish girl, who I'd love to slap in the face right about now. She only has a few scratches, and most of us are bleeding and beaten up. Austin's piece of shirt has stuck to my wound now, with some new blood trying to seep through.

Eventually I find two small first aid kits, and I lay out all of the supplies outside so everyone can help themselves. I grab a few huge band-aids and cleaning wipes and venture over to where I found myself earlier after I woke up. It's getting light out, so it must be early morning. After I get over there, I rip off the clothing piece from my wound and wipe up all of the blood that I can, and when I'm done I put on the thick band-aids. _Good as new_, I thought to myself.

I look around the area for any of my things but they aren't here. I walk back to the supplies and everyone's sitting around what's now a dead, fire and eat beef jerky. But I don't see Austin, and I don't think he's been back since I set out the supplies, and he really needs something for his head. I grab a band-aid and a few towels and go search for him.

It doesn't take me long to find him, he's just behind a small batch of trees; he has all of his stuff in a pile and is sitting down hitting buttons on his phone. I walk over to him and sit across from him.

"Hi Ally." He says.

I was going to hand him the first aid stuff, but I don't think he'd be able to wash it himself without a mirror, so I scoot over and start wiping his cut, he lets out a small gasp after the chemicals hit his wound but I keep wiping. After I get all the blood off of his face I put the band-aid over it. I scoot back over to my spot and look at his phone.

"No service. No one has service." He says in a frustrated tone.

I don't know why, but I can't seem to find my voice. I just can't bring myself to say anything, because nothing seems to be the right thing to say anymore.

I get up and walk away, and he calls after me, "Thank you." He says, and I walk back over to the others. I grab a package of beef jerky and grab a piece, suddenly hungry.

My head is pounding so I grab two aspirin from the bottle in the first aid kit, there's two full bottles so no one will mind them missing. The only problem is we don't have much water, and we'll need to find that soon. But who will do it, Thomas, Austin? It defiantly won't be Caroline.

I go back into the plane and sit down on my 'bed'. It will make good shelter if it rains or anything, so I think some more kids could sleep in here, but I don't know if we'd all fit. I found a sheet in someone's bag and I hung it on the opening of the plane, like a door.

It's brighter outside now, and I notice the older man is still studying different things, like twigs and leaves. I walk over to him and watch him, until he notices me, "I'm trying to figure out where we are." He says, even though I didn't ask.

I wonder if he has any ideas of where we are. I know I don't, I've never really been outside of Florida, and I'm more of an indoor girl.

"I can't tell by these though, maybe if we run into some wildlife, it will become more clear." He says, "I'm Frank." He says and holds out his hand. I shake it, but I don't tell him my name.

"And your Ally." He says and goes back to studying his plants.

It's like he understands me even though I don't speak, he answered questions I was thinking without me even asking him. He seems to be a pretty intelligent guy. I think he will defiantly be helpful in surviving here.

Caroline, and Austin are nowhere in sight, and it gives me an odd sick feeling. Thomas is showing the twins how to start a fire, and the 4 other kids in my class are going through supplies. I'm surprised at how calm everyone is being really, and it's sort of aggravating. They should be upset, they should be freaking out, but instead there just going on with their lives, like this is some vacation. No one is talking about how to get out of here, sure we've only been here a day, but I want to get out of here as soon as possible.

We're pretty much in the middle of a forest. The piece of plane where I call my bedroom now is off in a small clearing surrounded by some tall grass and then behind it is the thousands of trees and different plants. I'm tempted to go into it, but I have a feeling I won't come out. I have no idea what types of animals are out there, and I'm surprised we already made it through half of a night. Who knows what tonight could bring?


	4. Chapter 4

**The ending of the chapter is one of my favorite endings of a chapter haha**

**Enjoy and review**

I found myself wishing someone had a watch, but even if we did, who says that's the right time? It will just be Florida's time, but we don't know the time zone we're in right now.

The sun is setting, so it's late evening, and the air is getting cool, but not cold enough to have to snuggle up in a sweater, it's probably about 70 compared to today, which felt like 100. Everyone is gathering around while Austin makes the fire. I'm surprised Golden Boy can even make a fire, but I mean, he is perfect, so I guess he can do anything. He and Caroline appeared a couple hours ago, and I don't know what they were doing still, but I want to know why the hell it bothered me.

I walk over to the bin of food, and grab a bag of beef jerky and a few bottles of water. We found some supplies from the plane and it had bottle and bottles of water, which was good news for us. I walk over and hand everyone a piece of jerky, and they don't thank me, they just look at me like I'm a servant and accept the food. I hand Austin his piece, and he smiles at me, "Thanks." He says. Caroline takes the jerky from me hard and rude. I want to slap her, or call her a very bad name, but I'm not speaking these days. Austin gives her a dirty look for me. Why, I don't know.

I take a seat next to Frank, and nibble on a piece of my own food. After a while of silence, conversations start, and I sit back and listen.

"We all need a decent place to sleep tonight; we don't know what's out in those woods." Frank says.

"Have you figured out where we are yet?" the smaller twin asks.

"No Dannie, but I hopefully will." Frank says. So the smaller twins name is Dannie.

"Well, Ally made a decent space in the piece of plane over there; it should be able to fit some of us." Thomas says.

"Well, maybe we can all squeeze. We all may be here awhile; we mind as well get comfortable." Frank says.

"I think that's the best idea. We might not be safe if we sleep out here." Austin says.

"Me and Ally found a lot of blankets, you know, the ones the flight attendants give out, so we can all use those." Dannie says.

"Okay, that's good." Frank says. So we're all going to be squished in there, this should be an interesting night.

"Sammy, didn't you pack a whole box of Twinkies?" Dannie asks. So the other twins name is Sammy.

"Maybe…" She says cautiously.

"You should share them with everyone." She says.

"No, save them for another time." Frank says.

"Frank, did you have any family on the plane?" Thomas asks.

Frank shakes his head, "No, just me. I was actually flying back home to California to see my wife and kids. I was in Florida visiting my mother." He says.

"That sucks." Thomas says.

"What about you kids?" He asks, eyeing all of us, "Class trip." Thomas sighs.

One of the 4 kids from our class speaks up, "I didn't even want to go." She whines.

"What's your name?" Sammy asks. Sammy and Dannie must be young; they ask a lot of questions.

"I'm Tiffany." She says.

The three others names are Daniel, Wanda, and Rick. I can remember them always being quiet in class, and that hasn't changed, but at least their talking, unlike me.

After the conversations die down, and the night sky turns black, every one decides they want to go to bed. And so the arranging begins. I immediately go to my spot I was in the night before and grab Austin's blanket he gave me. I hand it back to him but he shakes his head, "Keep it." I want to say no, but I actually want it. It's soft, and warm, and it smells so good… It smells like _him_.

After an hour of arguing and moving and whining, everyone lies down in their uncomfortable spots, and I realize Austin is right next to me, and Thomas is right in front of me. Yet again, Austin didn't choose this spot, Frank set it up, I think. As usual, Austin doesn't choose to be near me, it just so happens to be the spots he's forced to go, right?

Austin and I are close, so close I can feel his shoulder brush up against me. I turn onto my side and face the wall of the plane and look through the broken window. Everyone goes quiet fast, and I cuddle up to my bag, and put Austin's blanket up to my neck. I can't help but inhale the smell, even though that boy is just inches from me. The only parts I like about being stuck near Austin, is that Caroline can't be near him. She's stuck over at the other end of the plane with Daniel, and the twins. I enjoy Caroline's unhappiness, that's the only reason.

After a while, I can hear distant snores from different people and I decide to turn to my other side and check everyone out. Austin's lying on his back and I realize his eyes are open, and he's staring up at the ceiling. Everyone else seems to be asleep, which means Austin and I are the only ones awake. I get comfortable on that side and close my eyes, inhaling the blanket and trying to dream of happy things, until I feel someone's eyes on me.

I open mine and I notice Austin's now on his side, facing me, _looking_ at me. I just stare back at him, and he continues to look into my eyes.

"Your awake." He finally breathes.

I just nod at him, not being able to speak still, "It's funny, how I happen to have the seat next to you, and now we're put next to each other in sleeping arrangements."

I just look at him, I look around his face, and he stares into my eyes, and then he looks at my lips, "It's like its fate." He says lowly. Why is he saying this to me?

"Do you believe in fate? Because I think I do." He says again. I realize he's going to just keep talking, because he knows I'm not going to be replying. I wait for him to say something about our kiss, but it's almost like he's forgotten about it completely.

"I can't believe it, I mean, we lived through this plane crash. All of us, we are alive, we're the lucky ones. I could be dead right now, any of us could be. But we're not, and that gives me hope that we will get out of here, we'll get home soon." He says. And after that, he goes silent, and he continues to look into my eyes, until we both drift off to sleep.

The next morning, I awake in a cold sweat, I must have had bad dream, and I'm glad I don't remember them. I look around and Austin and a few others are still asleep, the rest are up and around I guess. Austin is laying flat on his back and his arm is stretched out above my head. I have this horrible urge to cuddle up to his side, and cry, and forget about everything that's going on. But Golden boy is confusing. His words last night, were confusing, and I don't know what to think or do about it.

Suddenly, a loud piercing scream appears out of nowhere. Austin sits up quickly in surprise. I jump over him and run out of the plane and look around. Frank is walking towards the plane with his arm wrapped around Dannie, and he comes over to me, and now Austin's at my side.

"What happened?" Austin asks in a panic.

"I saw a snake!" Dannie screams.

"I didn't see it personally, but the way she is describing it, it sounds like a rattlesnake. We will need to be extra careful." Frank says. I've heard about rattlesnake bites before, and If any of us get bit, we won't have the proper treatment, we'll die in a day. I shiver at the thought.

Frank brings Dannie into the plane to see her sister and Austin and I stand next to each other awkwardly, "Austin! Come walk with me." Caroline calls from behind us. We both turn around and she's standing there. How long has she been there?

Austin turns to me, and I just look at him. He sighs and walks over to her, and they go and collect stuff for the fire tonight. I seriously hate Caroline, I hate how she acts, how she is. I wish Stacy was still alive; I'd be able to be friends with her here before Caroline. I'll never fit in here, it's just like school.

I decide today is the day I look for any type of water source nearby. If I get lost well, I guess I'll get lost. I'm already alone here anyway, even if I'm around these people. I go into the plane and grab my bag, and pack it with a package of dried fruit, a half full water bottle and a flashlight, in case I don't get back till dark.

I walk over to the beginning of the trees and enter the forest; no one even notices I left. Or maybe they just don't even care. I walk straight, and step over sticks and rocks and go around many big trees. I walk for a while, just in a straight line, so I can at least try to remember the direction I came from. The woods are still and quiet and I think that's a good sign. I keep a good watch at my feet, making sure there are no snakes. After a little while of walking, I hear a noise, and I stop right in my tracks. I hold my breath and listen.

I turn my body around slowly and look around, and I hear another noise, a twig snap, and that's when I see it, about 20 feet from me, standing in the middle of two trees, trying to be hidden… A _wolf_.

I'm not dumb when it comes to animals; I've seen wolves like this on T.V. It's a sort of smaller type of wolf, and its coat is a brown, grey and rust combination. Its ears and tail are highlighted in black, along with its legs. Staring at me intently, it licks its lips slightly. Call me uneducated, but I swear they won't attack unless they are in packs, or _really_ hungry. I keep my body in a statue and wait for it to make a move. But it stays in a still stance too, and I don't know what to do.

Another noise makes the wolf turn its head, and that's when I run. I run, _fast_, in the direction I came from. I don't know if it's chasing me, and I don't turn around to find out. I just keep running, and running. Finally, I make it right back to our 'camp'. I come to a stop in front of everyone sitting around the sticks that are prepared for a fire later tonight. They all just stare at me with wide eyes.

I lean over and put my hands on my knees and fight to catch my breath. I've never ran so long and fast in my life, and my lungs are fighting me. I must look like a fish out of water, the way I'm breathing right now. Frank walks over to me and pats me on the back, "What the hell happened to you girl?" he asks.

And then, I talk for the first time in two days, "A wolf." I say through hard breathing. Austin's face almost lights up, and it must be because I talked; since it can't be about the wolves, since everyone else's face has turned into panic mode.

"What?" Frank asks.

"I was in the woods, looking for any sign of water, and there was a wolf, staring right at me." I say.

"What did it look like?" Franks asks.

"It wasn't too big, and it was like grey, brown and rust color all in one, with black on its legs, tails and ears." I say all in one breathe, and now I'm gasping for more.

Everyone's just staring at me, surprised at how I'm talking now I assume.

"That sounds like a Mexican grey wolf. But none of them should be around, they captured them and are keeping them in facilities, since they eat so much deer and such." Frank says.

"Are they dangerous?" Sammy asks.

"All wolves are dangerous in a pack, if they are hungry. But they can't be Mexican grey." He says.

"It was just one, and it didn't run after me, I thought I was right, that they only attack in packs." I say.

Frank nods, "Yes, but if there's one out there, there is defiantly a pack." He says.

"Great; Wolves, rattlesnakes, anything else?" Caroline asks.

"I'm sure there is plenty more out there, we're only in the middle of nowhere in the freaking forest." I say rudely to her and walk away, into the plane. I hear her murmur, "I liked her better when she didn't talk." as I opened the sheet to let myself in.

I go to my spot that I sleep and sit there, and try to calm down. We can't ever go off alone, and especially at night now. There are so many dangers out there. Wolves and rattlesnakes are probably not even half of the dangerous animals out there. So what, we lived a plane crash, now we have to live through this. How long will we be here? How long until all of us start to starve to death and go crazy?

I hear someone walk into the plane, and it's Thomas. He walks over and sits down on Austin's bed and looks at me, "Are you okay Ally?" He asks, actually sincere. I've actually never had any issues with Thomas, we just never have talked.

"As good as this whole situation will let me be." I say.

"Well, at least you're talking again." He says with a smile.

"Not everyone agrees with that statement." I say.

"Who doesn't, Caroline?" He asks, "No one cares what she thinks." He says with a laugh and I can't help the giggle that escapes me.

"Doesn't everyone care?" I ask him.

"Not me or most of us, maybe just Austin." He says. I cringe when he says that. I don't want to think of Austin Moon caring about Caroline.

"The whole school cares about her. She's the most popular girl in our grade." I say.

This makes Thomas laugh again, "Nah, she's just a totally bitch and everyone's afraid of her." He says, "Plus, we're not in school anymore, so I'd like to see her try to make us bow down to her."

"I suppose. Do you really think Austin cares about her?" I ask him.

He raises an eyebrow, "Why? Do you care about him?" he asks me.

I shake my head, "Me, no. I'm just the loser, he's the golden boy." I say.

"I think he may care about Caroline, but it seems like he cares about you more." He says.

I just look at him, "I don't think so…" I say.

"He asked for the seat next to you on the plane." He says as he gets up, "Asked Frank for his spot too." And with that, he's gone. I sit here, dumbfounded at the words Thomas just said.


	5. Chapter 5

**Just a reminder, this is rated T for a reason, so please don't freak out at anything that may happen now or in the future. Enjoy.**

I don't leave the plane until its dark and everyone's seated around the fire again. It's our nightly routine, everyone sits around the fire, eats some jerky, shares a water bottle, and talks. I decide that I'll join, but I'm not going to join in on the conversations. I take my seat next to Frank like the night before, and nibble on the dried fruit I had packed earlier.

Austin and Caroline aren't seated next to each other. Austin is showing Sammy how to play a chord on the guitar. He found one scattered near the trees, in perfect condition, weird huh? And apparently he can play, since he's teaching her. But I haven't seen it myself.

"I could go for some smores right now." Dannie says.

Everyone nods in agreement, getting sick of jerky and dried fruit. We can eventually break down and eat the peanuts they give away on the plane, since we found all of that stuff.

"I could go for some entertainment. Hey rock star, play us a song. I know you sing. I've heard rumors." Thomas says. Everyone's eyes go to Austin, and his mouth drops.

"Rumors, they are called rumors for a reason." He says.

"Yeah, sing." Sammy says.

"I don't sing." He says in a harsh tone.

"Well, then I will have to tell a scary story." Thomas says.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Wanda says.

"Well, I'm bored!" Thomas whines.

"We all are." Daniel says.

"I want to go home." Tiffany says.

And with that silence starts and we all finish up our small dinner. After that we all go to bed, except Frank. He says he's going to keep watch outside and see if any animals come. We don't like it, but he's an adult, he's the oldest, he won't listen to us.

I get comfortable, well as comfortable as I'm allowed and cuddle up to my bag. Thomas' words are replaying in my mind. Austin chose to sit next to me, chose to sleep next to me. But how does Thomas know such information? Maybe he was just lying to make me think Austin is interested, yeah that could possibly be it.

I face Austin, and he's facing me again, but he's asleep already. His bandage is still on his forehead, and there's dried blood on it. His face is blank and so soft looking, and he seems so innocent. He seems like a normal boy, not that jock, popular, golden boy that I know. He's just, Austin. He's extremely cute, and just, perfect really. It's hard not to look at him; it's hard not to forget all the terrible things that's going on around me while I watch him sleep peacefully.

My thoughts are getting too intense and I close my eyes, and ignore the angel that's laying only inches apart from me.

The next morning, everyone gets up at the same time. I decide that I'm going to change into my different clothes that I packed. I know, gross I've been in the same clothes, be we all have. We have no water supply to clean them yet, so we aren't wasting what we have.

I go over to where I woke up after the plane crash, where Austin found me. The grass is tall and I think it may be good enough of a hiding place to change. I take off my shirt quickly and change into a T-shirt and shorts. I take my old clothes and bring them back to the plane, and put them in a pile next to where I sleep. After everyone noticed my change, they all went away and changed their clothes too. Which I found odd, I'm being noticed, being copied, like I'm the popular one or something.

Austin changed into a white v-neck shirt and ripped jeans. The v-neck is just long enough to show off some of his chest. He looks even more attractive then I've seen him. There's something about his dirty messy hair that just adds to it. Call me strange.

"I think two people should go looking for water supply today. I'm going to continue to study things to find out where we are." Frank says, "Any takers?"

"I'll go." I say.

"So will I." Austin says.

Caroline lets out a small moan, but we ignore her. I grab my bag and throw in some dried fruit, and hand Austin some too. This is it, Austin and I are going alone into the woods, and he volunteered after I did, which almost gives me some assurance that Thomas was in fact telling some truth.

When we enter the start of the trees, I start to get nervous, "Is this a good idea? What about the wolves?" I ask Austin.

"As long as there isn't a pack, we're fine." He says and continues walking.

"But what if there is?" I ask.

"We need to find water." He says.

We walk in silence for a while after that, and I fight the urges of asking him the kiss, about the reason he chooses to be near me, when he never even bothered to be around me at school.

"So how's Caroline." I blurt out, and my eyes go wide, surprised at myself.

He stops and looks at me oddly, "Huh?" he says.

"I don't know, don't you"- but I'm interrupted by a loud sound. Austin puts his arm up to quiet me and we both stay still.

Austin looks around, and I just stare at him, too afraid to look around too. What if it's the wolves? Austin faces goes into shock and focuses on something. I keep my eyes on him, "What is it." I whisper so low, I'm actually surprised he heard me.

"Jaguar." He says breathlessly.

Did he, just say, _jaguar_? I follow his eyes and sure enough, there it is, standing there, 10 feet from us, staring at us. I knew this was a bad idea from the beginning. How are we going to get through this now?

Austin pulls me slowly to his side and wraps his arm around my waist, "We're going to stay completely still until it leaves." He whispers down to me. We have quite a height difference. I'm only about 5'3 and he's about 6'1.

We stand there like that for some time, until the Jaguar decides to turn around and walk away, uninterested. Apparently we were lucky enough to come across it when it wasn't hungry. After waiting a little while for it to be out of sight, Austin pulls me slowly back in the direction of camp, and after a few minutes of walking, we run, and I'm struck with déjà vu from yesterday.

When we get back to camp, I run into the plane and decide that's where I'm staying for the day. I'm sick of everything, the animals, Austin, being stuck here. I just want to go home, where I'm safe.

I can hear Austin telling Frank about what we saw, "A Jaguar?" Frank asks, shocked. "Are you sure?" He asks.

"Sure." Austin says.

"I need to think this through." Frank says.

"Don't let anyone go anywhere alone." Austin says seriously.

"Will do." Frank says.

Sammy and Dannie are in the plane, preoccupying themselves with a pen and a blank notebook. They notice me sitting here and decide to come over and sit next to me, "Did you find water?" Sammy asks.

"No, unfortunately." I say.

"Do you think we'll get rescued?" Dannie asks.

"I hope that happens." I say.

"Do you think Austin's cute?" Sammy asks.

I just look at her, "What?" I ask.

"Do you think Austin's cute? I think he's adorable!" She says in a giggly voice.

"How old are you two?" I ask.

"Almost 11!" they both say.

"You're too young to think boys are cute." I say.

"You're avoiding the question." Dannie says. Dang, they're good.

"Yes, I think he's cute." I say.

"Does he think you're cute?" Sammy asks.

"I doubt it." I say.

"I think you're all cute." Austin's voice says out of nowhere. We all look up and he's leaning on the side of the plane in the opening.

"Eavesdropper!" Dannie yells.

"You think we are cute?" Sammy asks with a smile.

"Why don't you guys go help Thomas make the fire?" He says, and with that they are running outside as fast as they're skinny little bodies will let them.

Austin sits down on his blankets and looks at me. I hug my knees and ignore him, "So you think I'm cute." He says with a smile.

"Apparently you think I'm cute, too." I say.

"Touché." He says.

"Why are you suddenly interested in talking to me?" I ask him.

"What?" He asks.

I turn to him, "In school, I was invisible to you. And now you have this sudden interest in protecting me and being my friend." I say.

"You never really gave me a chance to talk to you in school. You were always focusing on something else, or walking by with your head down." He says.

"Because I'm Ally, I'm a loser. Popular jocks like you don't associate with people like me." I say.

"I'm not that popular, and just because I'm the quarterback of the football team doesn't mean I'm some jock that's a jerk." He says.

"Right. And you go for girls like Caroline, who are just like you." I say.

"Who says I'm going for her?" He asks.

"Guys, get out here." Frank yells.

Me and Austin jump up and go outside, and Caroline is laying on the ground, turning pale, screaming in pain. "What the hell happened?" Austin asks.

Frank sits her up, and points to her ankle. They're on her ankle is two small holes, a snake bite.

"Don't tell me that's a…" I start, "Rattlesnake bite." Thomas says.

"Shit!" Austin yells.

"We don't have supplies to treat this!" I scream.

"What are we going to do?" Thomas says.

Sammy and Dannie start crying, and Wanda brings them into the plane. Caroline's bite is starting to swell,_ a lot_.

"I think she's allergic to it." Frank says.

I start to feel like I'm going to puke. If you're allergic to the bite, and you don't get treatment, death just comes sooner.

Austin starts to freak out and sits next to Caroline, who's crying and holding on to his hand, "Don't let me die Austin." She says. I can tell those words hit Austin like a brick, and he fights back tears.

"Frank, do something!" I say, holding back my own tears. Sure, I don't particularly like her, but I don't want her to _die_.

"I don't know what to do!" he says, putting her leg up on a bin to elevate it.

"You're smart; don't you know what to do about this?" Austin begs.

"We need medical treatment right away, and like Ally said, we don't have it." Frank says.

Wanda moves the twins over to the fire pit and Austin and Frank bring Caroline inside the plane and try to make her comfortable. On the way to the plane they have to stop and she starts to throw up. They get her in the plane and put a blanket around her, she says she's starting to feel numb.

I can't deal with this, so I go over to Wanda and the twins, who are accompanied by Daniel, Tiffany and Rick. None of us talk, but we can hear Caroline's screams of pain and we all cringe. This is bad, _so _bad.

The night seems to go on forever. Frank and Austin stay in the plane with Caroline, and the rest of us refuse to go in there to sleep. Wanda and I preoccupy the twins with beef jerky and Rick and Daniel talk sports. Tiffany stares into the fire without saying a word.

It's very dark out, so it's probably extremely late, and the screams from Caroline are gone now, and I don't think that's a good sign. Everyone's silent now really. Sammy and Dannie are asleep on each other and we teenagers are focused on the fire.

After a little while longer, Frank comes out of the plane, pale and sick looking, his face full of horrible sadness as he walks over to us at the fire. He gives me one look, that's all it took, one look for me to know that she's gone. I put my head down and fight back tears when I realize Austin hasn't left the plane yet.

I get up and walk over to the plane, hearing Frank tell the others about what happened. I open the curtain slightly and look in. Austin is kneeling next to her, her hand still in his, and he's crying. She's laying there cold and still, her eyes closed peacefully. The plane makes a noise from where I am and Austin looks over to me, tears streaming down his eyes, he just looks at me.

Tears escape my eyes too and I walk over to him, kneeling down beside him. We don't say anything for a while, and I wait patiently for him to get himself together.

"She kept telling me to save her." He says, "Why me? Why would she put this on me?" He asks.

"I guess because she liked you." I say lowly.

He shakes his head and moves her hand from his softly, "I need to get out of here." He says and gets up. He helps me up and pulls me out of the plane by the hand and we walk over to the fire. He sits down on the log and I sit next to him.

Everyone's staring at him, and Tiffany has tears in her eyes. Rick and Daniel keep their focus on the fire, and the twins are still asleep.

"We have to move her." Frank says. He's pacing back and forth near us.

"Where?" I ask, "With the others." Austin says.

Then it hits me; with the others, with the other _bodies_. I didn't even stop to think where they put all of them, and frankly, I don't want to know.


	6. Chapter 6

**One of my somewhat favorite chapters. Enjoy**

Frank moves Caroline himself, and Austin and I each pick up a twin and bring them to their beds in the plane. The rest stay up with Frank, I guess they figured there is no point in going to sleep now, the sun will be rising in a few hours, but I want to go to sleep, and Austin does too, since he lies down in his bed next to me.

I'm confused at how Austin felt about Caroline, and I think he might be too. He seemed like he wasn't interested in her, but I can tell he is very upset about her death, which is understandable. We lay next to each other in silence, both on our backs, looking up at the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" I ask Austin, not moving my eyes.

"I don't know." He says.

I turn over on my side and face him, and inch closer to him, our bodies slightly touching, "It's not your fault, you know. There was no way to save her; none of us could have saved her." I say.

He just nods and doesn't say anything. I take the blanket he gave me and put it over him and go back to my laying position. I close my eyes and ignore my thoughts, and eventually drift to sleep.

The next morning no one is in the mood to talk. Frank and Thomas took the twins to explore around the edge of the trees. Daniel, Wanda, Rick and Tiffany went looking for firewood. I'm sitting on my 'bed' and looking down at the blank page in my songbook. I know that I defiantly won't have inspiration for a song, but I'm just waiting for any thought to come to my head, but the only thing I keep thinking of, is Austin.

Speaking of Austin, he's still sleeping soundly next to me, cuddled up in his blanket. I don't want to wake him, but the commotion that just started outside will wake him for sure. But I step over him and run outside to see what's going on.

Daniel, Wanda, Rick and Tiffany are running towards me, and I almost expect a pack of wolves to be chasing them, but this isn't the case, no. They are all wet, soaked to the bone, with _water_. A huge smile appears on my face.

"You found water!" I scream.

"The river! It's only two miles that way!" Rick yells and points.

"It's a fast flowing stream, with really clear water, it's amazing." Tiffany says.

"This is the best news yet! Where's Frank?" I ask, but then I see him and the twins running towards us.

"What's going on?" Frank asks.

"We found the river!" Daniel says happily.

Franks face lights up, "This is great news!" He says.

I run into the plane, and decide Austin needs to know this. I poke him and say his name but he just moans and doesn't wake up.

"Austin!" I scream again, but nothing.

So then I jump on top of him, my legs straddling his wait, and shake his shoulders, "Moon!" I scream, and of course, he wakes up. He just looks at me, surprised at how I'm well, on top of him. I'm surprised by my actions too, seriously, because I'd never normally do this. But this is good news.

"Yes?" He asks, a smile appearing on his face.

"Err, Um, Tiffany, Rick, Wanda and Daniel found the river." I say, suddenly shy.

He uses one hand to grab my waist and uses the other to sit himself up, and now we're both sitting up, but I'm on his lap, facing him, our faces close, "That's awesome!" He says happily with a huge smile.

"Uh, yeah." I say, and our eyes lock together.

After a few moments of staying like that, I start to feel weird, like I'm extremely attracted to Austin Moon. So I roll over, off of him and stand up. He looks at me and then stands up himself, "Let's go." He says and I follow him outside.

Frank and the twins are gathered around my 4 classmates, asking how they got to the water, and where exactly it was. Austin interrupts all of them, "What are you guys waiting for? Who wants to go swimming?" He yells; his happy, upbeat self coming back.

We all 'woo' in response and follow Rick through the woods. It isn't that far, and when we're finally there, we are all shocked by the beauty of it. The river is defiantly clear and flowing fast. There is a spot that looks perfect for swimming, right next to a small water fall.

Rick takes off his shirt and jumps in, and I'm surprised by how muscular he is. He always hides himself in baggy clothes, and I just never noticed. Wanda and Tiffany walk towards the rocky part and just dip their feet in. Frank brings the twins to a more shallow part, since they say they aren't strong swimmers. Daniel jumps in after Rick, fully clothed, and makes a huge splash, Thomas does the same.

Austin goes over to a tree and takes off his shirt and hangs it on there, and then takes off his _pants_. So he's just in his boxers. I stare hopelessly at his six pack. He notices me staring, and I blush, "You swimming Ally?" he asks me.

"I don't have a bathing suit." I say.

He laughs, "Look around. Do any of us have bathing suits?"

I don't have to look around to know that they don't, since none of us were planning on swimming in the aquarium, "Well, I- I don't know." I say.

"Suit yourself." He says and jumps in the deep part. I watch as everyone enjoys their time in the water, with an odd feeling. We're all so happy right now, because of this, but this doesn't change the fact we're stuck here. Sure, it means we'll live longer, but maybe I don't want to live like this.

Austin comes up for air, and flips his wet hair to the side, water flying everywhere. His hair still lands perfectly where it always does, and the sun light reflects off of his jock body, and I feel that weird feeling, of want, and attraction. I look down quickly and focus on the rocks under my feet.

"Are you coming in, chicken?" Austin says and I'm shocked at how close his voice is. I look up and he's right in front of me. I jump back, startled.

"Where'd you come from?" I ask.

"You really didn't hear me walk up to you? What were you daydreaming about?" He asks with a smile.

I wanted to say, _you_. But instead I put my eyes back to the ground, "No I'm not coming in." I say.

"Why not?" He asks.

I shrug, "I don't know." I say.

"Fine then." He says and turns around. He starts to walk away but suddenly does a quick turn and grabs me by the waist, picking me up like I weigh nothing and he pulls us both into the water. The water's cold, but it actually feels amazing. But, I didn't want to go in because I'm not a strong swimmer. I go up for air and I feel myself sinking again and I start to freak out, until Austin's arm wraps around my waist, "I got you." He says.

"Jerk." I say.

"You love me." He says.

I roll my eyes, "You wish."

He takes both his hands and puts them on my waist and pulls me further into the swimming hole. I get freaked out and grab onto his shoulders, "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Swimming." He says calmly.

"But I can't swim that well." I say.

"Looks like you'll just have to hold on to me the whole time then." He says with a big smile.

I attempt to hide my blush and I put my arms around his neck, "The waters nice." I say.

"Yes it is." He says.

We stay like that for a while; Austin swims around in circles, and stays in the deep part so I have to hang on to him. It was the best time I've had since we got here, and I couldn't help the smile that was on my face for the first time in a while, too.

Austin lifts me out of the water and he goes and gets his clothes back on. I stand their awkwardly, shivering from the cool air, since the sun is almost setting. Frank and Thomas and the twins went back to camp earlier, and the other 4 are walking back with us.

When we get back, Frank has the fire going already so we can warm up. I take a seat on the ground next to the fire and Austin goes into the plane. The twins are devouring their small pieces of jerky and Thomas is attempting to teach himself how to play the guitar.

After a while, I start to get dry, and grab two pieces of jerky and head into the plane. Austin is lying on his back in his spot, still just wearing his boxers. I walk over him and sit down, and place the piece of jerk on his chest. He smiles, his eyes closed still.

"Did you make me a sandwich?" He asks.

"You wish." I say and lean against the plane.

His smile suddenly vanishes, and he sighs, "I could go for a milkshake."

"I could go for a slice of pizza." I say, while nibbling on the jerky.

After a little while of silence, I lie down next to him, and close my eyes, too. There's silence everywhere, and I'm starting to wonder what's going on outside, did they all fall asleep?

"I wonder what our parents are doing or thinking right now." Austin says.

"Well hopefully they are trying to find us." I say.

"They must be." He says, but there's a slight sound of worry in his voice.

"What do you think is going to happen when we get home?" I ask him.

"What do you mean?" He asks me.

"Like do you think everything will just be the same? We'll all go back to our own clichés in the high school, none of us being friends." I say, secretly I really just want to know how he's going to be when we get home, _if_ we get home.

"You really think we're all in clichés at school huh?" He asks.

I lean up on my elbows and turn my head to him, "You popular kids really don't understand, do you?" I ask.

He mimics my movements and looks at me, "I hate it when you say that I'm so popular, it's like you think I'm not normal, I'm not like you. Though I am just like you." He says.

"I can't believe that. Do you walk through the hallways of school and get glares and have people laugh at you? Do you only have one friend? Do some teachers not even know you by your name? Can you not get any guy to like you? That's my life." I ask.

He falls silent, so I and roll over, my back to him.

"So what if I'm the quarterback, that's just a name and a jersey. So what if I have tons of friends, do you think they are my true friends like Trish is to you? No, they aren't. Have you ever thought maybe I don't like all of this attention? If I fail, everyone knows it; it's a lot of pressure. My parents even treat me like that; they expect me to be like my older brother Aaron. He was the quarterback of the football team all his years of high school, he had great grades, he knew everyone so he was always getting job opportunities and scholarships for school, and he goes to a great collage too. So my father expects me to live up to him, and if I don't, I'm a huge disappointment. "

I am stunned by Austin's words. I never thought about it like that. I know I would hate it, being the center of attention.

"Oh, and a lot of girls may like me, but if you haven't noticed, I never date any of them." He says.

It's true, he isn't a player, I've only heard of him having one girlfriend and that was a long time ago. I guess I was entirely wrong about Austin Moon and now I feel extremely bad about it. I roll back over and face him, I didn't realize he was facing me, and now our faces almost touch.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I really never thought about it from your point of view, and I should have. I just thought you liked this attention, I don't know." I say; pretty much at a loss for words.

"It's okay, I understand. How would you know any of that? You wouldn't." he says.

"I shouldn't have judged you so easily." I say.

"It's okay. I'm sorry that you're treated like that at school." He says.

"I'm used to it." I say.

"You shouldn't be." He says.

"No one thinks I'm friend material, I guess." I say.

"I think your friend material." He says, looking into my eyes now.

"You didn't before this trip." I say, and move my eyes to the floor.

"I guess almost dying changes people." He says lowly, his eyes on me, and I bring my eyes back to his. We stay like that for a moment, and the twins run in the plane, getting ready for bed. It startles us and we both jump out of our trance, and I roll over and face the plane.

Thomas comes in too, and then Frank, and then the other 4 come in too. And that's when it was time to go to sleep. Austin and I knew our moment alone was over, and neither one of us decided to continue.

We all fall asleep fast, until a noise outside seems to wake us all up. The twins stay asleep, and Tiffany and Wanda as well. But the rest of us all sit up, Austin looks at me oddly, and we all stay quiet, and listen. Frank crawls over towards us, listens in.

It sounds like something outside, more than just something, it sounds like more than one thing out there. There's walking, snapping of twigs, and I hear a scratching at the end of the plane that is thankfully sealed up.

And then, the most terrible sound, and the sound none of us ever wanted to hear starts. Howling, and it was just one at first, but then others join in, and that's when Franks horrified face makes me know, it's a pack of wolves.


	7. Chapter 7

**Here's a sort of calm chapter... lol.**

**Thanks for the reviews, keep on reviewing!**

The howls go on for a few minutes, causing everyone to wake up. Dannie and Sammy hug each other, and Wanda stops them from making any noise that could give us away. The howling stops suddenly, and the noises come back.

"There's a whole pack out there." Frank whispers.

Thomas gets up and sits next to the twins, they actually look up to him as an older brother, well it seems that way anyway, the way they treat him and act around him. He takes good care of them, too. It's a side of Thomas I've never seen. But I've only seen two sides of Thomas; the side of him when he's in school, and the sweet side of him when we had that conversation the other day.

"Will they go away?" Austin asks quietly.

He nods, "I think so. We haven't left any food outside, so they won't find much." He says.

The noise continues, and it's just so eerie and terrifying, knowing that there is something outside that could decide to rip you to pieces at any moment. I start to shake, not being able to control it. I get freaked out very easily, and I can't ever hide it. Sure, I keep things to myself, but I can't keep emotions to myself very well.

Frank keeps still, resting one leg on his knee, and the other is on foot, ready to run at any moment, or fight for his life. If it wasn't for this piece of plane, we would be getting eaten right now. I don't think any of us would have been able to make much of a shelter, except for maybe Frank. I want to ask him about his life, find out how he's so smart, but I don't think he's in the mood for any conversation like that.

Austin looks at me, studying my face and I look away, trying not to let him find out how afraid I am, but like I said, I'm easy to read. He scoots closer to me, if that's even possible, but that's all he does. I don't really understand why he did it in the first place, but I don't question it. When I hear a noise closet to me, I realize that my broken window isn't covered, and a wolf head could easily fit in it. I gasp at the realization and Austin follows my gaze. I look at him, and his face drops. He jumps up, and pulls me with him. We stumble backwards and I fall on top of him, just as the familiar wolf from the woods sticks his head in. The twins scream, totally giving us away to the rest of the pack, and the scratches and noises become louder.

Frank gets a piece of metal scrap in the back of the plane and hits the wolf on top of the head, making it whimper and back away. We wait for it to come back, but it doesn't. I start to hyperventilate at everything that has happened. Austin turns me around and faces me, rubbing my back gently. But my breathing doesn't slow down, and I feel like I am having an asthma attack, even though I do not have it.

"Calm down Ally!" Austin yells, but I can't.

Frank hands me a paper bag, from where, I don't know. But I start to breath in and out of it, like I've seen in the movies and T.V shows, but I don't know if it will work. Eventually, it does, and my breathing slows.

I see Thomas is blocking the window up securely so I will be able to sleep there again. And Tiffany and Wanda are trying to calm down the twins. Austin is seated right in front of me, and he's staring directly at me, his face full of horror, even though I'm calming down.

After Thomas is done with the window, and the noise outside stops, Frank tells us all to go to sleep. He and Thomas move over near the twins to help them keep calm, and I lay back down on my spot, even though I'm hesitate to be right here.

I lay under Austin's blanket, still shaking from everything that happened. I feel Austin's hand touch my back and I roll over on my side. He's on his side too, watching me with calm eyes. He puts his hand on my arm, and I pull myself over to him, and lay my head under his neck, and my body presses against him. He wraps his arm around me, and for once I am warm, I am calm, I feel safe; all in the arms of Austin Moon.

The morning comes quickly, and Austin and I jump away from each other when we wake up and realize how close we were. As I sit up, I realize Frank isn't in the plane anymore, but everyone else is. I jump over Austin, ignoring his questions and run out of the plane, holding my breath, thinking the worst.

But I let out a huge sigh when Frank is sitting at the fire pit, studying plants. I look around cautiously, imaging a wolf appearing out of nowhere and ripping off my head. Austin comes running out behind me, practically running into me, "Why did you run out like that?" he asks.

"Frank wasn't in there, I was worried. I didn't know if it was safe out here or not." I say.

Frank notices us and walks over, "The wolves were gone this morning. I reckon they won't come out during the day, well not there pack anyway. We just have to go inside the plan as soon as the sun sets." He says.

"What about our fires?" Austin asks.

"We'll just have to have them earlier." Frank says.

"Did they damage anything?" I ask him.

"No, seeing how there really isn't anything to damage out here. It's a good thing we keep everything inside." He says.

"Who wants to go to the river today?" Thomas asks while coming out of the plane.

"Is that a good idea?" Austin asks.

Frank nods, "I don't see why not."

I won't admit it out loud, but I'm kind of afraid to go anywhere. Maybe the wolves won't be together during the day, but I saw that one wolf by himself and it was daylight. Plus there are jaguars out there, and rattlesnakes, and who knows what else. Any one of us could die at any time, and that thought won't leave my head.

"I think I will stay here." I say.

Austin turns to me, raising an eyebrow, but Frank beats him to the questioning, "Why?" Frank asks.

"I don't feel like swimming." I say.

"You don't have to swim, you can watch." Sammy says.

I shake my head, "I just don't want to." I say. I turn around and head back to the plane, not wanting to answer any more questions.

Going over to my spot in the plane, I hear someone behind me, and I knew who it was of course. I sit down and grab my songbook and stare at it, and without looking up I say, "Go. You don't have to stay here."

"But I don't want to leave you here alone, it could be dangerous." Austin says, taking a seat next to me.

"It's more dangerous out there." I say.

"Oh, so that's why you don't want to go?" He asks.

"It doesn't matter." I say.

"Yes it does." He says.

"Just go." I tell him, slamming my book shut and stuffing it back into my bag.

"Why are you acting like this?" he asks me.

"Because I don't need you like you think I do." I say and walk out of the plane. Everyone's gone already, and I walk over to the fire pit and pick up a stick and start ripping it apart slowly, trying to occupy myself.

Austin comes outside too, but he doesn't come over to me. He goes in the direction of the river, and doesn't even look back. I can tell by his face he's upset, angry even. I know I blew it big time, whatever "it" is, but it doesn't matter. I just want to be left alone, I think that is understandable.

I walk back in the plane and lay down, staring up at the plain, boring ceiling I lay my eyes on every damn night. I want to be found, and I want to go home. I don't know what to do with myself here. I think I'm falling for Austin, but that can't happen, not here. What if he was to like me and something happens between us, and then we get rescued and go back to our old lives and he forgets about me? I wouldn't be able to handle that.

I remember thinking that we shouldn't stay in our high school clichés here, but maybe that is how it should me. From now on, I'm keeping my distance from Austin, even though I have to sleep right next to him. But that night that I fell asleep in his arms can't happen again, no matter how much I crave it and need it.

I fall asleep fast, and when I wake up, Austin's laying next to me, sleeping. _Everyone_ is sleeping. I must have really passed out, and slept through them coming home.

My stomach starts to rumble, but I ignore it. If I get up I might wake everyone up, and I don't want to do that. I roll over to my side and look at Austin. He's in different clothes; a black and red striped collared shirt, and long shorts. He's lying on his back, but he doesn't really look too comfortable. The light from the small lantern in the middle of all of us shows off his slight goose bumps.

His blanket lays weightlessly on me, but I take it off slowly and lay it over him. He moves slightly, his eyebrows raise, but he doesn't wake up. I lie back down and sigh, realizing how hard it's going to be to push that boy out of my life, I mean, just look at him. I hug my legs and try to sleep, the slight chill keeping me up. I want to cuddle with Austin under that blanket, but I know after today he won't want to talk to me.


	8. Chapter 8

I lay awake for most of the night, listening to different sounds everywhere. Austin's breathing heavily next to me, Franks snoring at the other end of the plane and one of the twins is talking in her sleep. I force myself to lie facing the side of the plane, because the other way is the sleeping Austin, and his angel like glow when he's sleeping is too much of a temptation.

I can hear different sounds from outside, different insects and who knows what else. I am sometimes tempted to go outside at night, just to see what other creatures are out there, but I feel as though that wouldn't be a good idea. I just don't want to be in here right now. I hate that I fell asleep like that earlier and no one even woke me. But that doesn't surprise me; no one is my best friend in this place.

When the sun starts to rise, I hear Frank get up, along with Rick and Daniel. I continue to lie down like I'm asleep, and the others continue to actually sleep. Not being able to stand my noisy stomach, I walk over to the end of the plane and grab a package of dried fruit, and then I grab my bag and walk out of the plane. The guys aren't around, so they must have gone to the river.

I go to my changing spot and change into a tank top and a different pair of shorts. My cut on my hip is starting to heal up nicely, but I put on a clean band-aid to help the process. I walk back over to the plane and decide to walk over to the river. Everyone else goes there, why shouldn't i? I can't stay away because I'm scared.

I start to head over, but Frank and the other two are heading back, "Are you sure you want to go alone?" Frank asks when I bump into them.

"Yeah, it's fine. I'll be fine." I say.

"Yeah Frank it's cool, I've gone alone before." Rick says.

Frank sighs, but starts to walk away and they follow. I walk in the direction of the water, starting to feel some anxiety forming inside me. I don't know if I should be doing this, but I just don't want to go back to the plane.

I get to the water and walk around in it, only letting it go to the bottom of my shorts. The temperature is warmer that it has been, and the cold water feels rather nice on my skin. I have an urge to strip from my clothes and take a bath, but I have a bad feeling someone would come at the wrong time, and that would be a rather embarrassing situation.

After cooling off for a bit, I get out and sit on a huge rock that's at the edge of the water and dry off my legs. I have gotten rather tan while being here. I'm usually as pale as a ghost, and I take me being tan as the only con to this situation.

I see a deer off in the distance walking, looking around for food. I stay still and don't make a sound and enjoy watching an animal that is calm and peaceful. Eventually something spooks it and it runs away.

The rock I'm sitting on is pretty wide, and nice and flat. I lay down on it and close my eyes, the warmth of the sun feeling warm, but almost nice. I listen to the small water fall that's not far from me, and it sounds so calming. When I close my eyes, I almost feel like I'm home.

I wake up suddenly, and everything's dark around me. I sit up and gasp, and realize where I am. I'm at the river, I fell asleep. I wasn't even tired! And now I'm not going to be able to see where I'm going. I don't know how to get back to the plane!

I start to panic, and force myself to breath. I need to just start walking and go in the direction I think is right. But I don't know what's in those trees. There could be wolves, jaguars, and rattlesnakes, and coyotes or anything! Sure, they may not attack me, but what if they are really hungry?

I walk towards where I think I came from, and start walking slowly, and on my tip toes, trying not to make any noise that could make my presence known. I'm shaking uncontrollably, and I am kicking myself for going to the river alone today, I'm so dumb. I continue walking like a deer being blinded by headlights.

I hear something behind me and I stop. It sounds like running, and it's getting louder, and louder. I gasp and start to run, in whatever direction I thought was right, but it was so dark, and I knew running like this was a bad idea, but something was _chasing_ me.

My foot gets caught on a root and I trip, causing me to fall over, and I land right on my wrist, hard, and it collapses on me, causing my face to hit the ground, into the mud and sharp twigs. I scream out in pain, ignoring whatever could be still behind me.

I roll over and grab on to my wrist, it must be broken. The slight touch makes me want to scream again, but I bite my lip, and tears stream down my face. I start to hear a noise again, and I freeze. I'm about to freak out until I hear, "Ally?" from my right.

"Hello?"I say in a whiney, tear filled voice.

Austin's knelt next to me in the next second, "Ally! Where have you been? I've been so worried, I thought you got attacked or something." He almost screams at me, "Why would you go alone like this and not come back!" He continues.

I don't say anything, instead I cry harder, holding my wrist, which was now swelling up. Austin notices it and his eyes go big, "Holy shit Ally what happened?" He asks.

"Something was chasing me, and I fell." I say.

He helps me up and we walk back to the plane in silence. Everyone was outside waiting for us, and Thomas ran over, "Where have you been? Are you okay?" He asks, and he seems like he was actually concerned.

Frank ran over with the lantern and looked at me, and then my wrist, "It must be broken, and I'll get the first aid." He says.

The twins must be inside sleeping with Wanda, since they are the only ones not out here. Austin sits me down next to the outside of the plane and doesn't say a word, just looks at the ground, but doesn't leave my side.

Frank comes back over and hands Austin a few band-aids, my face must be bleeding. He wraps my wrist up in an ace bandage, and when he tightens it I scream in complete pain and horror. Austin flinches and his face goes sad and he gets up and walks into the plane. Thomas takes his place and applies the band-aids to just below my eyebrow on my right side, and then on my cheek.

"Why did Austin come for me?" I ask, after Frank walked away to bring me some food.

"He was worried sick about you, more worried than all of us. Not that we weren't worried, but he was literally freaked the hell out when it got dark and you hadn't come back." Thomas says.

I try to think of something to say, but no words come to me. But Thomas continues to speak, "I've never seen him like that, so worried about someone before. He must really like you."

"Then why did he just leave me now?" I ask him.

"I'm guessing by his face when you screamed in pain that he can't stand to see you like that." Thomas says, and Frank appears with a piece of jerky and water. He hands it to me, and I have to use my left to do everything, which isn't going to come in handy since I'm right handed.

I nibble on the jerky and drink down all of the water, and Thomas goes into the plane to go to sleep, and Frank sits next to me studying more plants. After I finish my jerky, I watch him study the different types of leaves and then ask, "Have you figured out where we are yet?"

"I think we may be near Arkansas, but I'm not sure, I can't figure it out." He says in a frustrated tone. I don't question him again after that.

Austin walks out of the plane, and sits down on the ground next to Frank, across from me. Frank starts eating some dried fruit he had brought over, and we all sit in an awkward silence, until Frank speaks up, "I guess I'm going to head to bed, you two going to be okay?"

Austin and I both nod, and he gets up and walks into the plane. The silence starts again, and stays that wait for a few minutes. I think of saying something, but I don't know what to say. I move my arm slightly, and flinch at the pain. Frank gave me one Advil not too long ago, but it's not getting rid of much pain, but that is expected.

"Are you okay?" Austin asks me, breaking the silence.

"I'm fine." I say calmly.

He sighs, and looks at me, "I'm sorry for freaking out on you when I found you. I was just so scared when you didn't come back."

"It's okay. I understand." I tell him.

"Please Ally; don't ever do anything like that again." His voice is serious, with some sadness behind it.

"I won't. I didn't mean it, I fell asleep and when I woke up it was dark. I was so scared. And then I heard something behind me, and it started chasing me, and that's how I fell." I say, holding up my wrist, "I'm glad you found me, I don't know what I would have done."

He shrugs, "You don't need me remember…" He says.

I don't know why, but I smile a bit, because of the way he said it. He knows I need him, and I know that too, "It's pretty obvious that I do need you." I tell him.

He smiles slightly too, and that's when the silence comes back. Neither of us knows what to say next I guess, it's a common thing between us. There are a lot of things I could say, or ask, but I just don't ever know when the right time is.

An owl starts to make a noise just over us, and I think I jump five feet in the air. Sure, it's just an owl, but the sudden noise scared the crap out of me. Austin jumps up and stands in front of me, "its okay, just an owl. Are you ready for bed?" He asks, putting his hand out to help me up.

I nod, and take his hand with my good arm and he pulls me up. He walks behind me and we both go to our spots in the plane. I lie down on my back and try to find a comfortable spot to lay my arm. I decide to use my bag as a support and rest it on there.

Austin puts his blanket over me, and I look up at him, "You're going to be cold. Can't we share?" I whisper.

He lays down next to me, really close, our shoulders touching. It's not like I'm not used to this closeness, I've lied in his arms before. He puts the blanket over both of us; it's just barely big enough to cover us both. I want to just wrap my arm around him and fall asleep, but I have to lie on my back to keep my arm like this.

I sigh and stare up at the dark ceiling. I haven't had one decent dream since I've gotten here. They are always horrible nightmares, like the plane crashing, but this time I don't survive. And then another one I keep getting is the plane crashes, and Austin doesn't come to find me this time. Only I find him, dead in the plane like I found Stacy. Austin's voice interrupts my thoughts, "Ally?" He whispers.

I turn my head to him, and he's looking at me, "Yes?" I ask him.

"Is it… Can I…" He starts, but he can't seem to find words. Without finishing what he was trying to say, he rolls onto his side and puts his arm around my waist, and rests his chin on my shoulder, digging his face into my hair. I feel his warm breath on my neck and smile at his sudden embrace. And with that, I fall asleep easily.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hope you guys enjoy the chapter. I'm sorry to say that i won't be updating very fast anymore. Cheerleading practice started for me and i have practice everyday and then starting right away in September i'm busy every weekend with pep rallies, dances and football games. So i'm sorry that i won't be updating fast. I'll try my best! i hope you all stick with me and read still!**

When I woke up this morning, Austin was no longer next to me. I sit up, and _no one_ is in here. I hate when they all let me sleep like this, it sort of pisses me off really. I get up and walk out of the plane, and I see Austin, Frank, Thomas and the twins sitting at the fire pit. The others must be gone swimming. I walk over to them and they all look at me. I glare at everyone, "Why doesn't anyone ever wake me up?" I ask them.

The twins give me a confused look, and Thomas starts to laugh, "I didn't know we were your alarm system." He says.

"Well, everyone else gets up together, why not I?" I ask.

Frank shrugs, "We all sort of just wake up at the same time. You're just a heavy sleeper." He says. I sigh and turn around and walk away. Austin gets up and follows me instantly, "Where are you going?" He asks.

"I don't know; no where I guess." I say and stop walking.

"Want to go to the river with me?" He asks.

"Sure." I tell him. I'll be fine if I don't go alone I assure myself, though I won't be able to swim or do much.

He runs into the plane and grabs his backpack, and when he comes out he says he packed us some jerky, I nod, and I follow him into the woods. It creeps me out a little, because I keep getting flashbacks from being here in the dark, alone, with something chasing me. But I feel safe because Austin's with me, so my nerves stay calm.

When we get there, Austin jumps in and cools himself down, while I watch him from the familiar comfortable rock. The air isn't as warm today, but warm enough. Austin doesn't swim long, and when he gets out he joins me on the rock, only in his shorts. He shakes his head, making his hair fly everywhere and water splashes right in my face. He notices my face full of anger and he giggles, "Thanks." I say sarcastically.

"You're welcome." He says.

I look around, and the surroundings are really quiet. I realize there really aren't many different small animals in the area, so there aren't many food sources for the bigger animals that are around. That creeps me out slightly…

"Did you hear that?" Austin asks me, looking in a far off direction.

"No." I say.

He looks around, his face totally alert, and we're both silent. After a few minutes of silence, he shrugs, "Never mind I guess." He says.

But now I'm sort of freaked out, because what if there's something out there? "What if it's a wolf?" I whisper.

"Frank says its fine during the day." Austin says.

"But I've seen one out during the day Austin, remember?" I ask him, facing him now.

"Oh. I forgot about that." He says, his face full of disappointment, "So I guess Frank isn't as smart as he seems?" He asks me.

"I think he means well, but, I don't know." I say.

"All he is doing lately is staring at the same plant. How can you figure out where we are by the one stinking plant?" Austin asks, staring off at the river.

"I have no idea. It doesn't seem to be working though." I say.

"I could go for some different food, like fish, or deer or anything." Austin says, changing the subject.

"I saw a whitetail deer when I was here alone yesterday." I say.

"Wow really? If only we had something to hunt with." He says.

"Well, I don't know what we are going to do when we run out of jerky and dried fruit." He says.

"I know; we will be screwed." I say.

"That's for sure." He says.

We stop talking for a little while, and just listen to the sounds of the water, and listen for any other sounds that might be dangerous for us. Eventually, I get hungry and ask Austin for the jerky. He breaks off two pieces of jerky and hands one to me. We eat the pieces slowly, savoring each bite. It's definitely not filling, but it will last me the rest of the afternoon. We have all lost a few pounds already I assume.

I hear a noise from behind us, and Austin turns around at the same time I do, so I know that he heard it too. The noise continues for a while, until one small grey wolf appears in the direction we were looking. It stands there, still and alert, staring at us.

"Shit." Austin says.

I spot another one walk up behind the other, and there right in the direction we need to go. How is this going to happen? Two smaller ones appear now too; it's the pack.

"Shit." Austin repeats.

"There right where we need to go." I say. I'm standing right off of his right shoulder, slightly behind him. His arm is away from his side slightly, almost like he's going to hold me back, but where am I going to go?

One wolf howls, a long loud howl. The others don't respond or anything and it gives me an eerie feeling, an all around bad feeling about it. Austin continues to stay still, and so do the wolves. Their just staring at us and it's starting to _really_ freak me out. What if they're hungry enough to just attack at any moment? There are more of them than us; we'd get killed for sure.

"What are we going to do? There in our way." I say to Austin.

"Run the opposite direction." He replies.

I look at him in disbelief, "We can't do that." I tell him.

"Run, or go in the opposite direction?" He asks, not taking his eyes off of them.

"Both." I tell him.

"Have any better ideas?" Austin asks.

I think for a moment, but nothing comes to mind. My thoughts are too flooded with what's in front of me, "No." I say. But if we go to the opposite direction, we'll get lost. How will we get back? And if we run, won't they chase after us?

"I'm going to count to three, and on three, we're running. I'm going to grab your hand, and we are going to turn around and run, and we're not going to stop until we know it's safe. Got it?" Austin says.

I don't say anything. I just freeze and look down at my still swollen wrist and remember just last night when I ran through these woods. What if I get hurt again or worse, what if Austin gets hurt? I'll be screwed for sure.

"Did you hear me Ally?" Austin asks, and I know he would have yelled it if he could.

"I do." I tell him.

"1…" He says. I cringe, my body starts to shake. If they do run after us, we could get attacked. We could get hurt, killed, _eaten_.

"2…" He says next. The shaking becomes worse, and I sweat starts to form on my forehead. If we do make it away from the wolves, we'll be in the wrong direction. We won't be able to find camp tonight, it will be too dark. What will we do?

"3!" he yells then, and he grabs my good hand. He pulls me around and we run, we run _fast_. Neither of us look back to see what's going on, we just look forward and run. We make sure not to run into trees, and other things, and I make sure I don't trip on anymore roots. I hear noises behind us so that makes us think we might be being chased. We keep running until my lungs feel like they just might explode.

I stop, and Austin hadn't got the picture so he pulls my arm, but I don't start to run again, "Ally what are you doing?" He asks me, he's out of breath himself.

"I can't." I say, and try to breathe, "Run anymore." I finish.

He lets go of my hand and looks around, "I guess it's safe." He says and walks over to the nearest tree and leans against it on his hand, trying to catch his breath himself.

We both take a moment to get ourselves together, and Austin stands up straight. I look around at our surroundings. I know I haven't been here before, and the sun is starting to set. This is not good.

"What are we going to do?" I ask him.

He shakes his head, "I don't know. I don't think we should start trying to find our way back. It's going to be dark soon."

I nod at him in agreement. But how are we going to sleep out here? We have no shelter, and we will be out in the open for any animal to eat us. I get a chill up my spine at just that thought; I hold back a shiver.

He removes his backpack off of his shoulders and sets it down next to him. He looks around the small clearing we're in. He studies different things, and I stare at him in confusion, "What are you doing?" I ask.

"Trying to find a comfortable flat spot we can sleep." He says.

"What are we going to sleep on, the nice dirt and sticks?" I ask him.

"I brought my blanket, and we can use my backpack as a pillow." He says.

"Why did you bring your blanket?" I ask.

"I thought of using it as a towel, but that didn't happen." He says.

"We'll have to sleep really close to each other…" I say, eyeing the back pack.

Austin lets out a loud laugh, "And has that mattered the last two nights?" He says, giving me a big smile.

"I suppose not." I say and a small smile creeps its way onto my lips.

Austin grabs the blanket out of his backpack and lays it down on the spot he picked. He sits down on it and pats the spot next to him. I walk over and take a seat. He grabs the other pieces of jerky he brought and gives us each a small piece, saving the other for the morning I assume. He sets the half full water bottle out too, and with that, we eat dinner.

After finishing my piece of jerky, a sudden sting of pain shoots through my wrist. I squirm uncomfortably and Austin notices moments after, "What's going on?" He asks me.

"My pain killers wore off." I say with a sigh.

"Shit. We don't have any with us." He says.

I nod, "I know."

"You're going to be in pain." He says; his voice full of distress.

"It's fine, really." I tell him and pat him on the leg.

"Okay." He says, but he knows I'm full of it.

The darkness surrounds us quickly, and I start to feel very uncomfortable. No way am I going to be able to sleep like this, out in the open. We don't have a blanket to cover us, only one to lie on. This is going to be beyond weird and freaky. What if we fall asleep and something comes, and kills us?

Austin lies down and stares up at the stars. I stay in my seated position, hugging my knees. I watch Austin study the sky and then I speak, "No way am I going to be sleeping tonight."

"Me either." He says.


	10. Chapter 10

The air is cool, about 70 degrees I'd guess. I decided to lie down on my back beside Austin, but I won't fall asleep, I won't let myself fall asleep. I force my eyes to stay open, focusing on a lonely star above me. I know that Austin said he wouldn't be able to sleep either, but I can tell he's tired and is trying to stay up as hard as I am, but he is in and out of consciousness now, and can hear his loud breathing.

I want to be back at the plane, I bet they are all upset that we're gone. They probably think we're dead or something. I bet the twins are crying, and Frank is probably freaking out too. But we'll be back tomorrow, right? I sure hope so.

Austin's body twitches slightly next to me and he sits up, "Are you okay?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I just had one of those dreams where I'm falling." He says.

"Those suck." I say.

"That they do. I tried not to fall asleep but I failed." He says, and sighs.

"It's okay. It's hard. But come back please." I say.

He looks down at me and smiles. He lies back down on his back and rolls over on his side. There are noises from different insects around us, and there sort of soothing, since I'm used to them because I sleep right next to the window in the plane. But I just wish I had a roof over my head.

Austin lies with his hand supporting his head and he stares at me with a small smile on his face. I give him an odd look, "What's your deal?" I ask him as nicely as that can sound.

"I can't look at you? You're beautiful you know." He says.

I bring my eyes down to the blanket, and try to hide the blush creeping onto my cheeks. I don't know what to say to such a compliment from a boy like him. No matter what he says, I don't know why he'd ever be interested in a girl like me.

"Can I ask you something?" I say to him after a few moments of silence.

He nods, and then I realize I don't know what I am actually going to ask. I can't find the right words. I wish I hadn't found the words to even ask him if I can ask him; wow I am such an idiot. I don't say anything, I just open my mouth, let it hang there for a moment and then shut it. I close my eyes and shake my head.

"What?" He asks me.

"Nothing; never mind." I say.

"I hate how you seem like you can't talk to me." He says and rolls over onto his back again, staring at the star.

"I have a hard time talking to a lot of people." I say. He doesn't respond though, and I know I've frustrated him. I can't deal with him not talking to me again, or not talking right now, out here, like this.

"I'm sorry." I whisper.

He rolls over and faces me again, staring at my eyes, "It's okay." He says. He doesn't take his eyes off me, and I keep my eyes on him, no matter how much I wanted to bring them down to the blanket. I wait for him to say something, but he doesn't. Instead, he inches closer to me. Our faces are just barely an inch apart and he presses his lips to mine as he puts his hand on my cheek.

He kisses me hard, and his lips are cold feeling. I kiss him back, and our lips move together for about 10 seconds until I pull away. I lie back again and stare at the stars, and sigh. Austin stays in his position, his face full of confusion.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asks.

"Why did you kiss me?" I ask him.

"I thought you wanted to…" He starts but I interrupt him.

"No, I mean before we crashed." I say. The silence fills the air quickly and he lies on his back close beside me and follows my gaze to the stars.

It's the question that's been lingering in my mind this whole time, and his kiss just now made me remember it, and I just want to know. Or should I have even asked?

"I thought we were going to die." He whispers.

I don't say anything back, because I don't think it's a fair answer really. I want a real explanation. Why would he decide to kiss me because he thought we were going to die? He could have went and kissed anymore, or you know, not kissed anyone, because while thinking that I was about to die, kissing someone was at the top of my priorities.

Eventually, he catches on to my non-reply and speaks again, "Well, as we were falling, I thought we were going to die. Like, I was really scared. And all I could think about during that awful time was… you."

I get this weird feeling, like a warm feeling inside me, at those words. Don't girls dream about guys saying such sweet things to them like this? Especially from a boy that looks like Austin Moon. I almost think I'm dreaming, but If I was dreaming, I'd wake up in my bed, and nothing between Austin and I would have ever happened, would I like that idea or not?

"Really?" is all I can get out to ask. I can never find words at times like these, especially when I'm talking to a boy.

"Yes. You're really special to me Ally; I'd do anything for you. I'd _die_ for you." He says.

"But, we've barely talked back home." I whisper, holding back tears. How can he say such amazing words to me?

"I know, but there's just something about you. I can't help it." He says.

I stay silent, and choke back my tears trying to escape me. I don't know why I'm so upset. I think because of many reasons. First, we're stranded here, and I miss my home. Second, Austin and I are now away from the others, and having to sleep here tonight. Third, Austin Moon's being beyond sweet to me and I don't know how to react. Fourth, I don't want to die here. And I could go on.

I hold back the tears so hard but a small noise comes out of me and gives me away. Austin rolls over and faces me and I cover my mouth with my hand. But my trembling body is hard to hide.

"Ally what is wrong?" He asks with fear in his eyes.

"I-I d-d-don't know." I stutter.

"Is it something I said, I didn't mean to upset you." He says.

I shake my head, "It i-isn't. I just am scared of everything." I say, finally gathering myself together.

"Don't be scared. I'm here." He says.

He wraps his arm around me and pulls me to him. I bury my face in his chest and embrace his warmth. He really is my protector. I don't know how I'd survive out here without him. If this wouldn't have happened, Austin and I would have never gotten this close, and now I think I believe the saying, '_everything happens for a reason'_.


	11. Chapter 11

I wake up some time during the night, with Austin still wrapped around me tightly. I hear noises all around me, but I decide that they are just different insects, so I close my eyes and try to fall back to sleep. But when I do, it's not for long. The sun rises and the howls start. Austin and I sit up immediately, and look around us. I don't see anything but I hear a lot of noises.

It doesn't take long for the wolf pack to appear, and surround us. Austin stands up slowly, and I do the same. They are doing what they did to us yesterday, and I don't see a way out this time.

"I have a plan." Austin says.

I don't see what it could be, it looks like we should just stay here and be their breakfast.

"I'm going to run that way." He nods his head in the direction, "And you're going to run the way you think is the direction of camp. I'll distract them by running first, so they shouldn't be following you." He says.

I just look at him. He has to be kidding, right?

"Not going to happen." I tell him.

"Yes it is." He says firmly.

"I'm not going anywhere without you." I tell him.

"You have to." He says.

"No because what are you going to do? Run farther away from camp and get eaten by them?" I ask, tears forming in my eyes.

He turns to me slowly and rests his hands on my shoulders. He slouches and looks into my eyes, "I need you to be safe. This is the only way. Don't worry about me." He says.

I shake my head at him and tears start to fall. How can he be doing this to me?

He goes back to his previous position, and looks around, "When I start to run, you better run too." He tells me.

I don't reply. I just shake my head and start feeling sick to my stomach, "Ally, no matter what happens, just know that, I care about you more than anything." He says, and with that, he takes off.

I freeze for a moment, and the wolf pack runs after him. I watch them for a moment before remembering Austin's words. I look around and run in the direction I assume is where the plane might be. I keep running as long as I can, and take a break against a tree. I start to cry hard, thinking of what could be going on right now. I get myself together and start again.

It takes forever, but oddly enough, I went in the right direction and I see the piece of plane in the distance. I run over and stop In front of the familiar faces sitting around the -not yet started- fire.

They all stop whatever they were doing and stare at me. Frank and Thomas jump up and run over to me. I kneel down on my leg and catch my breath.

"Where's Austin?" Are the first words that escape Thomas' mouth.

"I don't know; somewhere in the woods being chased by wolves." I say.

"What?" Frank asks in a half shout.

"We got lost running from them yesterday. And today they found us and he ran the opposite way so I could get back here. And now I have no idea where he is or if he's okay." I say, and I start to cry again.

"Why would he do that?" Wanda says. Daniel and Rick take the twins off somewhere, swimming, I suppose.

"I told him not to do it. I didn't want to run. But he made me." I say.

"Well this isn't good!" Frank yells.

I shake my head, tears still streaming and I run into the plane. I sit down in my spot, but I look at the spot where Austin used to lay and I start to cry harder, and the feeling of wanting to throw up comes. I run out of the plane and sit at the fire pit alone. Everyone's somewhere else and I'm glad to be alone. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. I need Austin, like really need him.

I stare at the pit of burned wood and try to block out my thoughts. Just last night I realized how I couldn't be here without Austin, and now I'm here without him. Will he come back? Will he be able to find his way here? Is he okay? Well so much for blocking out my thoughts.

Thomas walks over to me and where he appeared from, I don't know. He sits down across from me and I can feel his eyes on me. But I don't bring them off of the fire pit. My face is red and puffy from crying just moments ago, and I don't want Thomas to see my weakness.

"He told you how much he cares about you, didn't he?" He asks. I don't know why he is bringing this up at such a terrible time. Maybe so he can understand why I'm so upset. If I didn't care for Austin, would I be this upset? Well of course. I even cried a little when Caroline died, and I didn't care for her. But it's Austin.

The only reply I can do is nod. He sighs and picks up a stick, and starts tearing off pieces of it, "I bet he's fine. He'll be back soon." He says. I just shrug at him.

"I mean, it's Austin. He's a tough guy. He can take care of himself." He says.

"Not if he gets hurt." I whisper.

"We should look for him." Thomas says.

I finally look up at him, "We should." I agree.

"When everyone comes back from swimming, we will talk to them about it." He says.

I nod at him again and get up. I go into the plane and sit down on Austin's side. I hug my legs to my chest tightly and rock back and forth. If we don't find him today, there's no way I can sleep here tonight, feeling his absence.

I stay in my position for awhile until I hear multiple voices outside. I jump up and go outside and everyone is in a circle with Thomas in the middle. He must be telling him a plan. I join them on one side, in between Wanda and Tiffany. Everyone looks at me oddly, and it must be because of how terrible I look from crying so much today. They must think there is something going on between me and Austin because of my reaction to him being gone, but right now, I don't care what they think.

"We're going to split up. Ally's going to be with me. Tiffany, Rick and Wanda you're going to be with each other. And so are Frank, Daniel and the twins. Leave something on the path you walk if you're not going to be sure how to get back. And be back before dark, got it?" Thomas says.

Everyone nods, except me. I don't want to stop search when it gets dark. I want to stop the search when we find him.

Everyone gathers a backpack and packs it with jerky and water and I stand impatiently as they do it. Thomas walks over to me with his backpack and looks me over, "Where's your stuff?" He asks.

"Don't need anything." I tell him.

"You'll need food to bring." He says, walking back towards where we keep the food.

"I'm not hungry." I yell to him.

"You will be eventually." He says. I sigh and put my hands on my hips and wait for him to get back. I just want to start already.

Finally he walks over, right past me and into the woods. I jog up to him to catch up and we start our search. I show him the direction I came from this morning, seeing how I knew from there the direction Austin had ran. I don't know where the others went, since they left before us.

It takes a while, but we get to the spot where Austin and I spent the night. I can tell because we forgot to grab the blanket. I notice it and run up to it. I pick it up and inhale the slight smell of Austin. I hold back tears, and Thomas just watches me.

"So where did he run to?" He asks.

I point in the direction that he went. Thomas nods and heads that way. I roll up the blanket and hold it as I follow Thomas.

We walk in silence for a while, looking all around us. I try to look for clues that Austin has been here. Like maybe a spot in the long grass he may have sat in, or maybe he could have found something that he could leave for a clue for us. But what we find is; nothing.


	12. Chapter 12

The sun is closet to setting, and we still haven't found any signs of Austin. I can't explain my mood; it's just like I'm becoming numb at every moment the sun goes down farther. I know that Thomas is going to make us turn around at any moment, and that means that our search for Austin is over tonight. There is so much that could happen to him in one night. And to think anyone would want to stop looking for him, makes me slightly sick feeling. Even though I know it would just put all of us in danger. There isn't anything I can do, and that's the most frustrating thing of all.

The sun is completely gone from my view, and that's when Thomas speaks, "We should head back."

I don't say anything; I just nod at him and follow him back to where we came from. It seems to take a shorter amount of time to get back than I thought. I guess it's because we stopped so much to search, and find anything that gave us hope that Austin was there or nearby.

When we get back to our camp, everyone's standing around the fire. It kind of makes me angry that they are all back already. And it looks like they have been here for a while. It makes me wonder if they even looked far, maybe they just went for a swim and made it like they searched, just to please me. But would they be that cruel? Well it's a possibility. None of us were friends back at school, especially with Austin. He's at a higher level of popularity than them. Why would they bother trying to look for him?

Thomas walks over to them, and I keep my head down and walk into the plane, uninterested in whatever they have to say. It's obvious they found nothing just like us.

I lay the blanket over the spot Austin usually sleeps, and I take a seat in my spot. I stare at the empty space for a while, and I try to picture Austin laying there, sleeping peacefully like I always used to watch. But this doesn't work for long, and I find it hard to imagine him there, because I want him to be there in real life right now. I try very hard to block out the thoughts of what could be happening to him at this moment.

Frank walks in then, and takes a seat in front of me. He looks at Austin's blanket and the way I have it arranged, and then looks back at me, "Thomas told me that you didn't find anything." He says. I nod at him and hug my knees to my chest.

"None of us did either. But don't let that discourage you. Austin's a tough guy, he's fine out there. We will search for him again in the morning." He says.

"What if we're too late?" I ask him. And I'm sort of shocked by my own question.

"We aren't." He says. I know he can't say that for sure. How does he know anything about Austin? We've known each other since we crashed.

I just nod at him again, hoping that he will get the hint that I'm not in the mood to socialize. I mean there was a reason I ignored everyone and went in here, right?

I rest my head on my knees and Frank pats me on the head. He gets up and walks out of the plane. And I'm surrounded by the familiar presence of no one, and I can hear the distant voices coming from the fire pit. I somewhat wonder what they're talking about, but decide quickly it's probably not important. They probably think I'm going to go back to my silent stage, and I have to say, I'm thinking about it. I have no need to speak to anyone that isn't Austin. I want to talk to him and fall asleep in his arms tonight, and that can't happen.

I lie down on my back and stare at the ceiling, but the loneliness is getting to me, and I decide to join the others, but that doesn't mean I have to join them in conversation.

I stand up and walk out of the plane. Everyone's passing a beef jerky bag around and I take a seat next to Thomas. When the bag gets handed to him he hands it to me, but I shake my head. He sighs, "You need to eat, seriously." He says.

I shake my head again, and he takes a piece out of the bag, and hands it to me, "Please, it's just a small piece."

I glare at him slightly but take it in my hand. I look at it for a little while, and take a bite. Now that I did that, the attention is off of me and they start conversing on their own. I don't pay attention to any of the conversations; none of them seem important to me. I don't get how any of them can have a normal conversation like this while we're stuck here. Our conversations should be about survival plans or how we should get the hell out of here.

I nibble on my piece of jerky every time Thomas eyes me, and eventually, one by one, people start heading to the plane to go to sleep. The twins went first, then Tiffany and Wanda, then Daniel and Frank, and then Rick. It was just Thomas and I left, staring at the fire. Thomas is supposed to put it out when we're ready for bed. But little does he know I'm not going to bed tonight. I can't sleep there without Austin. I rather just sit here and watch the fire burn all night.

Thomas is across from me, and he picks up a stick and starts poking the fire. He sighs loudly and says, "Same shit different day, huh?" He says.

I think of nodding, but he hasn't looked at me, and I think he wasn't even asking me that, he was just saying what he was thinking out loud. I'd imagine he's getting sick of this place as much as I am. I don't remember how long we've been here, but it's been long enough and I want to go home. Is anyone even looking for us? They have to be.

"You really care about Austin don't you?" Thomas says, and this time I know he's asking, and he looks at me, which means he wants an answer. I decide I mind as well talk to Thomas, I mean, he's been here for me too since we've got here.

I hesitate, but decide to tell him the truth, "Yes." I say.

"Did you even like him before all of this?" He asks.

I shrug, "I don't know. Sort of, but we never talked much then. We just like connected here though." I say.

"Yeah, it's weird. None of us are really friends back home, but this brought us together." He says.

"Is it weird that I'm kind of happy this happened, because it brought Austin and I close?" I ask, and now I get a sick feeling in my stomach for saying it out loud.

"Well, it makes some sense I guess. But I wouldn't be happy something like this happened." He says and shrugs.

"I know." I say.

He gets up and starts to put the fire out. I stand up and shake my head, "Don't." I say.

"Why?" He asks, and doesn't stop.

"I can't… I don't want to go to sleep." I say and bring my eyes to the ground.

"You won't be able to sleep because you know Austin won't be next to you?" He asks. I cringe at the name Austin and everything he just said, but I nod.

"You'll be okay, I promise." He says.

I shake my head at him, and he sighs, "Please. I'm not letting you stay out here." He says.

I sigh, and give in for another time tonight. He finishes with the fire and I follow him into the plane. I lie down on my spot and face the wall, keeping my back to where Austin should be. I can feel the space being empty, and it makes me feel upset, but I try to focus my thoughts on other things. It's hard to think happy thoughts here, but it's worth a try.

If I had a clock, I'd be staring at it, like what I would do at home when I couldn't sleep. I would always bring my focus to the clock, and I'd watch the hours pass by and I'd eventually fall asleep. A shiver runs through me, snapping me out of my thoughts, and I roll over and grab Austin's blanket. I wrap it around me and can't help but feel a lot of guilt. Austin's out there somewhere, possibly freezing, and I'm laying here with his blanket.

I need to find Austin, and I'm going to find him tomorrow, no matter what. I don't care what anyone says and I don't care if it gets dark. I'm staying in those woods until I bring Austin Moon back to me.


	13. Chapter 13

I couldn't sleep at all, so I stared out the tiny part of my window that wasn't boarded up until I saw slight daylight, telling me that the sun was about to rise. I stand up as quietly as possible, grab my bag, and tip toe out of the plane. The air has a slight chill to it that gives me goose bumps, and I think of going back to the plane to grab the only sweatshirt I packed, but I figured it was too risky to go back in there. Plus it will get warmer when the sun fully rises.

I grab a few pieces of dried fruit and an almost full water bottle in case I do find Austin and he's thirsty. I look around, and think of how they'll react when I'm gone. Maybe they'll come looking for me, or maybe they'll just stay here and wait for us to come back. I shrug at my own thoughts and go into the woods.

I walk slowly, looking out for any unwanted attention from animals, and for any signs of Austin. I follow the trail back to where we were the other night, and decide to go the same way Thomas and I did, but further. He has to be around here somewhere, possibly hiding, possible laying somewhere hurt…

"Stop it." I say out loud to myself.

The sun is completely raised now, and the air is getting warmer by the minute. My surroundings are very quiet, and it sort of freaks me out, but I keep walking, tripping over tree branches and big rocks. It's slightly uphill now, and I'm afraid I may fall. But I keep going as fast as I can, determined to find my Austin Moon. He'd do the same for me; I know that for a fact. I owe this to him.

The swelling in my wrist is still there, and I'm just sort of getting used to the sickening pulsating pain it brings me. It's still wrapped up, and I haven't dared to remove it. I haven't been able to take much pain medicine, with fear that someone might need it more than I someday and there won't be any.

I stop walking when I hear a noise. I look all around me, but see nothing but trees. I decide to pretend I didn't hear anything and continue. But when I walk again, I hear it clearly, and I realize it's a rattling noise and that's when I know what it is. I look down and only a few feet away is a big rattlesnake, and flash backs of Caroline run through my brain. I back away slowly, and that catches its attention. It comes towards me, ready to strike, when someone grabs me and I'm pulled away. I fall to the ground and when I look back over, Thomas is striking the snake multiple times with a big rock.

I stand up; full of disappointment that it is Thomas and not Austin. For some reason, I'm extremely annoyed and angry at everything that just happened, so I walk by Thomas and continue on my path. Thomas follows me instantly, grabbing my shoulder, "Where are you going?" He asks.

I give him an odd look. Is he stupid? "I'm looking for Austin obviously." I tell him, and then I continue to walk, but he grabs my shoulder again.

"You just almost died, I saved you. I think a thank you is in order." He says.

"Oh thank you so much Thomas for stalking me and killed a snake in my path." I say sarcastically, turning away from him.

"I didn't stalk you. I simply followed you knowing you'd need help eventually." He says.

I face him now, and my face turns in a glare, "Are you calling me weak or something?" I ask.

"No, you just need someone around to protect you, like me." He says.

I laugh at him, "The only person I need is Austin. He's the one who protects me, and I'm going to find him." I say.

"I'm going to help." He says.

"I don't want your help." I tell him.

"Please, let me help you." He says, and he grabs my face and tries to kiss me, but I turn. I push him away from me, "What the hell are you doing!" I yell at him.

"I-I don't know." He says.

I turn away from him and stomp away, and thankfully he doesn't follow. I walk as fast as I can, and I'm in complete disbelief of what just happened. How could Thomas do that? I thought he was one of my friends. I really can't depend on anyone besides Austin, and he's not even here. To think of Thomas' face that close to mine makes me sick. Austin's the only person I've kissed and I want to keep it that way right now.

I make sure I don't miss any details around me, and when I still find nothing, I start to freak out. What happened with Thomas is getting to me, and now being able to find Austin is too, and this is all too much. I stop and go down on my knees and hold my face in my hands. I can't stop the flowing tears that come. What if I'll never see Austin again?

"Austin!" I scream through tears, and this time I lay down on the ground, hugging my knees. I know I'm very vulnerable like this, but I don't care about it anymore. If an animal wants to come and kill me, then I guess it's my time to go. I feel like I've already cheated death a few times, and I don't think I can be lucky any more than that.

The sky is clear, clouds nowhere to be found in the small clearing through the trees. I decide to lay here like this, even though I know it's not helping find Austin, but I just don't know where to look anymore. I've looked in the direction he went, as far as I think he could go, and I can't find any damn thing. I haven't given up though; I'll never give up on him. I just need this break. I can't help the goose bumps that rise on my skin when I think that Thomas could be anywhere around watching me and following me still, but I ignore the thought quickly.

I start to think about what will happen when I go back to 'camp'. Things will be too weird with Thomas now, and I thought he was someone I can trust. He knows how I've felt about Austin; heck he's told me things about Austin to make me think he's interested in me. I don't understand why he would have acted that way. Maybe being stuck here is starting to affect us all in the head. I know I've felt crazy here sometimes.

I want to trust Frank, but I just don't know him at all. I can't just put my trust in him like that. The twins are too young to confide in, and the others I've never even associated with in school, and we were in the same class for crying out loud. And I wouldn't even expect Austin to be the one I get along with, or confide in, or trust because we didn't associate much at school either, and he's the golden boy of course, but he's the only one that I can trust here, and that's just something that surprises me.

"Austin!" I yell again while still keeping focus on the sky.

I should head back to the plane, and deal with whatever I'm going to have to deal with. I get up slowly and head back towards 'camp'. It's just about dark when I get back there, and everyone's around the fire. Frank stands up and runs over to me, "Where the hell have you been?" He asks. I guess Thomas didn't tell anyone about our run in since no one has known where I was all day. I look over to Thomas and he's staring at the fire.

"I was looking for Austin." I tell him.

"It wasn't very smart to go off on your own." He tells me.

"Someone had to do it." I tell him.

"We can't just risk ourselves to go looking for him like that." He tells me.

"I don't understand why. He'd risk his life to help any of us, because that's the type of person he is." I say.

"I'm sure he would understand our reasoning's." He tells me.

"Well I sure as hell don't." I tell him. I turn around and head into the plane, not in the mood for any more socializing.

Risk our lives to go looking for him? Sure there are animals out there that could get us and we could get hurt but it shouldn't be such a risk to go find one of us. No wonder when I was missing Austin was the only one that came for me, because he and I are the only ones that care about each other here. None of them would care if it was Austin lost, or Wanda for crying out loud. They all care about themselves. But that's okay I suppose, because I don't care about them, only Austin. I guess they figure they should stick to themselves at a time like this. And here I thought we would be able to get over our high school labels and whatever else to fight to stay alive, but I guess I was wrong.

I set up Austin's blanket and lay down on his side, facing the plane wall, thinking of my next route that I will take tomorrow to look for him. I'm getting a bad feeling about this. I think if he wasn't hurt he would have been back here by now. But I really hope that's not the case.

Thomas walks into the plane, and instead of taking his normal spot towards my feet where he always sleeps, he goes to the other end of the plane and lies down. _Good_, I think to myself. I wouldn't want him anywhere near me, unless he apologizes or something.

Lyrics pop into my head, and I grab my book out of my bag, but I can't find my pen, so I decide to try to store them in my brain for another time. I could have sworn I had a pen in here before; someone must have taken it.

Eventually everyone comes in to go to sleep, and I really want to go outside to get away from them all, but the fires out and it will be so dark, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. So I force myself to fall asleep, hoping that tomorrow will be the day I'm reunited with Austin Moon, the boy I know I've fallen for.


	14. Chapter 14

The morning comes fast for once; I actually fell asleep and slept for a decent amount of time. Everyone was out of the plane when I woke up which isn't anything unusual. I pack my bag again and get ready to head out for another day of searching for Austin. When I walk outside though, only Thomas and Wanda and the twins are around the fire.

I walk over to them, and they all just look at me, "Where's everyone else?" I ask.

"They're searching for Austin." Dannie says. I just look at them all in sort of shock. I guess my theory about them not caring is out the window now, huh?

I don't say anything; I just turn around and walk into the woods. I decide to go to the river and then think of my path from there. I haven't really freshened up in a few days and I mind as well grab some water too. I walk a steady pace and get to the river in no time. No one's around so they must be searching for Austin in a different spot, which is okay because I rather search for him here alone.

I set down my back pack and walk in the shallow part of the water. I feel like stripping down and taking a decent bath but I'm afraid someone will come during it and well that would be rather embarrassing. I take some water in my hands and wash my face, legs and arms. The water's cold but it frees me from the boiling sun. I splash my face with water one more time when I hear a noise. I stop and turn around, and Thomas is standing next to my backpack. He's staring at me, and his expression is weird; I can't exactly put my finger on it.

I walk out of the water slowly, but keep a good distance away from us. He hasn't said a word to me since what happened, and I don't understand why he would follow me here, unless he was just coming for a swim too. I remember I didn't tell anyone where I was heading; this must be a coincidence.

"Hello Ally." He says.

"Hi." I say cautiously while eyeing my backpack. I get this weird feeling and I suddenly want to grab it and run away, but I'm frozen in my spot.

"You know, I really thought with Austin not being around you developed feelings for me." He says while picking leaf off of a tree.

I just stare at him. What is he talking about? I've never shown any interest like that towards him. We talked more when Austin was around, and now he's thinking this? I swallow hard, suddenly even more afraid. Sure he was tall and skinny, but he wasn't weak, and I'm suddenly afraid at what he could do to me. He's not acting like himself.

"Why would you think that?" I ask him. I guess it came out wrong, because his face turns to me and it's cold.

"What, you'd never been interested in someone like me?" He asks.

Before I can answer, he continues, "Of course you wouldn't, right? Because I'm not blonde and buff, and play sports and am popular like thee Austin Moon!" He yells. I don't say anything, since I have a bad feeling anything I say may make him madder, so I stand there, dumbfounded by his sudden change of character.

"I don't know why someone like him would ever give you the time of day, oh wait, it's because we're all stuck in the middle of nowhere so he doesn't have to worry about people picking on him for talking to you." He says.

I know Thomas is going insane, and I shouldn't take what he's saying to heart, but I can't help the sudden sadness that washes over me that that could possibly be true. We never talked in school, and now we come here and he cares about me all of a sudden, why?

Thomas notices my facial expression change and a grin crosses on his face, "Oh, you didn't think that until now huh?" He asks.

I still say nothing and hope that his rant will be over soon, but I feel as though he has a lot he could say right now, and he may be purposing delaying me so I don't search for Austin. What I don't get is his sudden attraction to me, I mean we're in the same class and he's hardly talked to me, so I could ask him the same question, if I wasn't too afraid.

"Maybe Austin purposely separated from us and is searching for help on his own, or maybe he even got rescued but didn't tell them about us." He says with confidence.

I shake my head, having to reply, "He wouldn't do that to us." I say.

He laughs, "You think you know him, it's quite sad actually." He says.

My anger is starting to get to me and I'm not quite sure how long I will be able to take this and not say anything back. I clench my fists as hard as I can and try to think of other things.

"He wouldn't care for you like I would." He says, suddenly soft and quiet.

I take this opportunity to walk up to my backpack and grab it. He takes a step forward towards me and I step backward. We stare at each other like we're two predators about to attack one another, "Where do you think you're going?" He asks.

"I'm going to find Austin." I say cautiously.

He face turns cold again, "I don't think so. We should chat and spend some time together." He says.

I just shake my head at him and turn around, but a warm hard grip appears on my wrist. I turn around and Thomas is right in front of me, his grip on my good wrist tightening, "Leave me alone." I say threw gritted teeth.

I try to wiggle away but I can't get his hand off of me. He starts to smile, "Oh, angry are we?" He asks.

He pulls me close to him, our chests touching as I try to wiggle myself away from him, but it's not working. Fear rushes threw me, and I wish I hadn't even come to the river, "Don't you want to hang out with me Ally?" he asks.

"Not at the moment." I say.

"Come on." He says and uses his other hand to touch my cheek. I move my face away from his hand and look at the ground.

"You're just making me angrier." He says.

"Thomas stop this, it isn't you." I say as I turn to face him.

"Oh it's plenty me." He says.

He leans and tries to kiss me, but I move my face away so his lips hit my cheek. My stomach turns at that contact; I don't want any of him near me. His grip tightens more if that's possible and I scream out in pain, "You're hurting me!" I tell him.

"Shut up and let me kiss you and everything will be fine." He says.

I still try to wiggle away and when I don't stop he grabs my face in his hand hard and is about to press his lips to mine, when all the sudden, "Stop!" yells a voice.

Thomas stops right away, but keeps his grip on my arm, and we both turn around, and standing a few feet away from us, is thee Austin Moon.


	15. Chapter 15

The only way I knew it was him, _really_ him, was by his voice and that shaggy blonde hair. The rest of him was a complete crazy mess. His clothes were cut up on him, showing off cuts on his skin with dried blood. His face was covered in dirt, and it looks like he's been living with the wolves instead of running away from them. His expression matches how the rest of him looks; crazy.

Thomas' mouth drops and he instantly drops my wrist from his grip and stands there, completely stiff. I have a feeling bruises are going to appear from him later, but that's far from my worries right now.

I stare at Austin, but his eyes are on Thomas, and I feel like he may pounce on him at any moment, "Austin!" I say.

"What the hell is going on here?" He asks; his eyes still on Thomas.

"Nothing now, since you interrupted…" Thomas says calmly.

I turn to him and my mouth drops. Is he seriously going to make it sound like we were about to kiss because we _both_ wanted to? No way would Austin believe that… Would he?

"He didn't interrupt anything!" I shout towards Thomas. He turns to me with a cold look, and it makes me feel like he would have grabbed me by the neck and killed me right there if Austin wasn't here.

I want to run over to him, hide behind him so I could feel protected from Thomas. But I feel like I'm afraid to. Is he the same person as he was the other day, and why does he look so crazy? I stay still in my spot, feeling like I'm not going to be safe anywhere now.

"It sure looked like something." Austin says threw his teeth.

My heart feels like it stops right there. Does he really believe that Thomas and I have something? I know he doesn't know exactly how I feel for him, but I just thought he kind of _knew_, "What it looked like was Thomas about to take advantage of me!" I say.

"You wish!" Thomas snaps at me.

"Not in a thousand years!" I snap back at him. Austin looks from him to me, and then he looks like he's thinking about all of this.

"Thomas, what the hell are you thinking?" Austin asks, walking over to stand in front of me. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, I have my protector back, I have Austin back. I stay behind him and attempt to look over his tall shoulder at Thomas, who stands there dumbfounded.

"She threw herself at me." Thomas says.

"What!" I scream from behind Austin.

"That's not what it looked like to me." Austin says.

"Whatever." Thomas says and turns around to walk away, but Austin walks over to him and grabs him by the shoulders.

Thomas goes stiff and avoids Austin's eye contact, "If you ever try to take advantage of Ally like that again, you're going to wish you died when the plane crashed." Austin says right into his face, and he sounded scarier than I ever imagined.

Thomas just nods, and when Austin lets go of him, he runs away back towards the plane. I just stand there and watch Austin turn around, and then just look at me. I look into his eyes and I can't tell what he's thinking, and it bothers me.

"Are you okay Austin? I've been looking for you and I've been worried sick." I tell him.

"I'm a little banged up, but I'm fine. I got lost but obviously I found my way." He says kindly.

"I'm glad." I say, "And you came at the perfect time." I tell him.

"Yeah, what the hell is going on?" He asks me.

"I don't know; Thomas was always so nice to me. And all the sudden he's around me all the time and trying to kiss me and freaking out because I like you and" – I stop right there, because I realized that I just said I liked him, and his expression doesn't change, because I think he just knows.

"I can't believe he'd do something like that." Austin says and shakes his head.

"I know me either. And I haven't felt normal or safe back at camp since he's started this. I've felt so alone without you." I tell him.

"I haven't felt right being apart from you either." Austin says, "But I'm back now, and I'm here for you. We should go back to the plane and see what's going on." He says.

I nod at him and we walk back together in silence, which I don't really understand. I want to ask him so many things, but I can't find the right words to ask, and I guess he just has nothing to say to me either. But when we get back everyone runs over and gathers around him (minus Thomas of course) and flood him with questions. Sammy hands him new clothes and Dannie runs over to the first aid area they set up and grabs a wash cloth to clean him up.

He's so distracted by all his attention I decide to leave him alone and go in the plane. Thomas stays far away, so I feel safe being alone for now. I curl up into a ball on my sleeping area and decide to put Austin's blanket on me until he comes in to go to sleep. I find myself excited. Excited that Austin is going to be back lying next to me, and that emptiness is going to be gone. It almost makes me forget that I'm still stuck, who knows where, with a random group of people.

I find myself drifting off to sleep slowly, and I can't even keep my eyes open for longer than two seconds. Eventually, I can't fight it anymore and I let myself go, but I wake up not too long later, because I feel someone's arms wrap around me, and I freeze, suddenly afraid that It was Thomas, but I turn around to face him, and it's Austin. He smiles at me, and keeps his arms around me tightly. I rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. He puts the blanket on top of us both and I feel warm and safe. I fall asleep fast again, and when I wake up, I'm still in his arms, except my head rests on his collar bone while he lays flat on his back.

It's bright, so I know its late morning. I lift my head up slightly and everyone's awake already, and I smile. For once Austin stayed sleeping with me instead of getting up with everyone else. I put my head back down on his chest and listen to his heartbeat, and his slow breathing. It's really comforting, and I probably would have fell back to sleep right there if I wasn't already so rested, so instead I take this opportunity to watch him sleep like I did that time before.

He wakes up soon after, blinking a bunch of times and stretching slightly. He looks down at me and smiles, "Well good morning." He says.

I return the smile, "Morning." I say.

"Have you been watching me sleep you weirdo?" he asks and then laughs.

My cheeks turn a shade of red, "Me? No." I say.

"I was just kidding; I've watched you sleep before too." He says.

I just smile at him and roll over on to my back away from him, and we both lay the same way next to each other, and stay silent for a while… until I break it, "So, what happened to you other there?" I whisper, almost afraid of his reaction to the question.

"Well, I ran from wolves a lot, and fell all over the place, that's why I'm so cut up. I also had a run in with a rattle snake, but thankfully I got away. I stayed in some small empty beat up shack I found one night, and the rest I spent under the trees." He says.

"That's so scary." I breathe.

"I know." He says.

"Well I'm just glad you're okay and you're back. I finally got a good night's sleep." I say.

"I'm glad I comfort you." He says.

I roll over on my side and support my head on my arm, "Me too." I say.

He mimics me and we're face to face. He rests his arm on my hip and we stare at each other. I swear I get totally lost in those eyes of his, and his angel like face is so alluring. I forget about everything around me when he looks at me like this, and then before I know it, he leans in and presses his lips to mine. It's like some electricity goes through both of us, and I swear I get chills. He kisses me softly, our lips moving perfectly in sync with each other.

When he breaks away, both of our faces kind of turn into shock, or realization of what just happened. I realize this is our first real kiss since the kiss he gave me before we crashed. I wasn't even sure about that kiss, wasn't sure he wanted it, but this kiss, I could feel the want from both of us.


	16. Chapter 16

Austin looks at my lips, with what looks like a sense of want. When I think he's about to lean in again, we're interrupted by Frank walking into the plane. Austin and I move away from each other quickly, but Frank doesn't seem to notice. He stands in front of us and there is slight panic in his eyes, "Thomas is gone." He says.

I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes. I'm sure Thomas just didn't want to have to face me and Austin anymore so he attempted to leave, and now Frank seems more freaked out than when Austin was missing.

"I'm sure he just went to the river or something." Austin says.

"I don't think so. We found his backpack near the fire pit this morning, and Wanda doesn't think he even came into the plane to go to bed last night." Frank says.

Austin and I exchange glances and Frank just stares at us, "Will you help me find out what's going on?" Frank asks him.

Austin nods and pats me on the knee before getting up and walking out of the plane with him. I sit there, a little dumbfounded now, at Austin's actions. I'm surprised he would actually go help search for Thomas after what he tried to do to me. But something I've realized about Austin since this happened is he's a really caring guy, and I think he would probably do anything for anymore.

I get up and walk out of the plane, and everyone seems to be scattered around, doing different things. I guess Frank and Austin are the only ones that went off looking.

I walk over to Tiffany and the twins, and it seems to me that they are occupying themselves with different items they've found, such as rocks, leaves, sticks. I guess one of them packed a bottle of glue because that was lying next to their stuff. I almost wish I was their age, that way I could preoccupy myself so easily. Tiffany smiles at me and I return it before walking away.

Daniel and Rick seems to be best friends, they seem to always stick together. They are setting up the fire for tonight already, probably because there isn't much to do. I walk by them and go to the back of the plane where we keep our food supply. Wanda is sitting in front of a bin that we put the food in with a disappointed expression.

I cautiously take a seat next to her and stare at her until she speaks, "We need to cut down on food." She says.

"What? We can hardly get by on what we eat now." I tell her.

"I know, but we're running out of food fast. What are we going to do when we're out? I have only found a few berry bushes and I'm pretty sure we shouldn't eat those." She says and sighs.

I don't say anything, because it's true, none of us have found any other sources of food. We've all lost weight on how much we're eating now. A couple pieces of beef jerky or dried fruit a day is not filling at all, but it's all we can do.

"How long do you think we have until it runs out?" I ask her finally.

"I don't know exactly, a week or two maybe." She says.

I want to say that's fine, no big deal, we will be rescued by then, but for some reason I have this awful feeling that we will still be here by then, having to deal with having no food, and slowly starving to death...

Tiffany clears her throat and interrupts my daydream, well more like day mare. I just shrug and stand up. I head over to the fire pit and decide I could investigate Thomas' backpack. I stand over it and look at it. I don't think anyone has moved it, so I flip it upside down and that's when I notice bite marks. I gasp loudly and cover my mouth. Something defiantly chewed at the top, and that means either he left his backpack here last night and something came and snacked on it, or he got attacked by something.

I turn around to walk away and that's when Frank and Austin appear, running back from wherever they were. They say something to Daniel and Rick, but I can't hear it from the distance I'm at. After they stop talking, they all go running back to the direction Austin and Frank came from. Wanda, Tiffany and I all exchange glances with each other across the camp and I think we all know that something isn't right from that point on.

I don't know what to do with myself from that point on. I was too focused on wondering what was going on that I couldn't find anything else to occupy me. I could go in the plane, but it's not like I am going to sleep or something. I could help the twins, but I think they've got that covered. I also don't feel like sitting next to Wanda, who is staring helplessly at our food bin.

But my wait was over faster than I thought, as the four guys came walking back not too long later, without Thomas, without anything. Frank and the other two walk away, but Austin walks over to me. His face is pale, like he's just seen a ghost. He stands awkwardly in front of me, focusing on the dirt under his feet.

"What's going on?" I ask him.

"We found a lot of blood not far from here…" He says.

"Okay…" I say.

"Well, there was a ripped piece of cloth in the middle of the blood, and it looks just like the material on Thomas' shirt he was wearing before he left." He says.

The emotion I feel right after those words, I can't really explain. I sort of liked Thomas, in a friendly way of course, until he went completely psycho, and then I sort of hated him. But I feel a tinge of sadness, thinking that that blood could be his and thinking of a horrid attack that he may have went through makes me nauseas.

"What do you think it was?" I ask.

"There was a lot of blood, which makes me think there was more than one animal." He says.

I whisper my guess, "The wolves."

Austin nods in response. And that's when the conversation ends. We walk over together to the others who are circled around Frank. It seems as though he has waited until we got there to speak.

He clears his throat, and I notice that the twins aren't here. They must be in the plane. He probably didn't want them to hear about this, since they are quite fond of Thomas, "Austin and I found a lot of blood about a half mile over, and a piece of cloth that resembles the shirt Thomas was wearing right before he went missing." He starts, and Tiffany gasps, and Wanda covers her jaw dropped mouth with her hand.

"I'm not saying it was Thomas for sure, but I wouldn't know how to explain his piece of shirt. I don't know what to say to you guys about Thomas. Just pray that he is in fact alive and well out there. It's too late in the day to search now, but tomorrow morning Daniel and I will be going off looking for him. From now on, no one, and I mean no one is a loud to leave the plane at night without another person, got it?" He asks.

We all nod slowly, "And I'm not saying your even safe out here during the day, because my guess is you aren't, but we're more vulnerable at night, so just watch yourselves at all times, and try not to go far alone." He says.

None of us say anything, just nod when needed and after he's done he walks into the plane with Wanda to get the twins. I walk over to the fire pit and sit down on one of the long logs, staring at the ready to be lit fire. Austin walks over and sits next to me.

"I'm not leaving your side from now on." Austin says.

"I never wanted you to leave my side in the first place." I sigh, remembering when he told me to run the opposite direction and I had refused.

"I know, but it had to happen that way." He says.

"I missed you, a lot." I whisper, almost afraid of him hearing me. He turns his head and looks at me, but I keep my eyes straight ahead, avoiding eye contact.

I feel his eyes on me for a little while longer until he finally says, "I was scared," In a low voice.

I turn to him now, and he's still looking at me. The look in his eyes makes me believe him, not that I wouldn't have before. He looks so young in this moment, like a little boy, scared for his life. Before I can say anything back, he continues,

"Being out there like that in the dark, alone, was awful. I could feel eyes on me at night, and I kept waiting to get attacked at any moment. I heard so many strange noises, I felt like I was in a horror movie."

I shiver at his words, remembering the night I was out there. I know I wouldn't be able to handle that alone, "You didn't get attacked by any wolves?" I ask.

"No. But I saw one and I hid as fast as I could." He says.

"Isn't it weird that Thomas got attacked like that when he was right here, but you didn't get attacked when you were out in the woods for that long?" I ask.

Austin seems to think about this, and his face turns into confusion, "That is weird." He says.

We sit in silence for a while, until everyone walks over and starts the fire. I look around and I can't help but feel weird with Thomas not being here. I know that I shouldn't because of everything that happened, but I don't want any of us to disappear. The thought that any one of us could go missing tonight even, gives me the chills.

When the dried fruit gets passed along, I take a small piece. But I don't feel hungry, knowing that we'll be running out not too long from now. When everyone is nibbling on their food, Austin speaks up, "Ally had a good point earlier." He says.

Everyone's heads go up and they stare at me. I try not to turn red from all the attention and I just look at Austin. He nods and speaks for me, "She had said how it's odd that while I was lost in the woods, I didn't get attacked by any wolves. But then, you know…" He says, eyeing the twins who are only half paying attention.

"That's true. That just means there could be bigger, more dangerous, things out there. Or Austin was just lucky." Frank says.

No one says anything, and I think it is in fear of telling the twins too much. But I think they are old enough to know what's going on, especially if Thomas doesn't come back…

We all go to the plane after the fire starts to burn out. I sit down on my spot, suddenly not very tired. Austin lies down next to me, and everyone else drifts off to sleep quickly. I stare straight ahead, towards the front of the plane. It's just Austin and I at the end now. Thomas used to sleep right at our feet.

"Ally, go to sleep." Austin whispers.

I guess I was frozen for a while, so I listen to Austin and lie down next to him. He lays the blanket over both of us, and we lie down quietly. I still lay there, eyes open staring at the ceiling, until he wraps his arms around me finally, and I drift to sleep, wondering what tomorrow will bring.


	17. Chapter 17

Tomorrow came fast, and fortunately I wasn't woken up with any terrible news, and Austin was yet again still sleeping beside me. I can't help but smile at his, whatever this is. I lie down on my back in my spot, with my head resting on Austin's arm.

I find myself daydreaming about home; my light blue room with clouds on the ceiling, (I'm in a cloud watcher's club, so I really like clouds) my soft twin bed that felt like a big thing of cotton candy compared to how I have been sleeping since the crash. I think of my golden retriever Daisy, her soft long fur and the way she always jumped on my small frame and licked my face when I came home from school. I even miss my dad, even though he would annoy the crap out of me sometimes. But I miss his pep talks and how he would always cheer me up when I was down. I'm just downright homesick.

"What are you thinking about?" Austin asks.

I jump slightly, not aware that he was even awake. I turn my head to him and he smiles, "I didn't mean to scare you." He says.

"It's okay, I didn't know you were up that's all." I say.

"Yeah, I was kind of watching you, sorry." Austin says.

"It's okay." I say.

His body shifts a little, "So, what _were_ you thinking about?" he asks.

I sigh, "I was just thinking about home."

He nods and stares up at the ceiling, "What about it?" He asks me.

"I was thinking of my comfortable bed, and my dog, and even my dad." I say.

"I miss my bed too, and all my guitars." He says and sighs.

"We have a guitar here, remember?" I ask.

"I know, but I just don't have any ambition to sing and play here." He says.

"I thought you didn't sing?" I ask and prompt myself up on my elbows, grinning at him.

His face turns a tomato shade of red, "I don't." He says.

"You're such a liar!" I say.

He rolls his eyes at me and sits up, "Shut up." He says.

"Sing for me." I say softly.

He shakes his head, "I don't know…"

"Okay." I say in a disappointed tone as I stand up. I start to walk out of the plane and he grabs my wrist. I stop and turn around to him, trying not to cringe from the soft touch on my aching bruises from Thomas.

"I've only song in front of one person, an ex of mine that I cared a lot about. Singing in front of someone is like me opening my heart out to them. I haven't done it since." He says lowly.

I nod at him and walk out then, not knowing what to think of what he just said. It proves to me that he's more special to me than I am to him, but I can't say that I didn't expect it. I don't know any guy that's liked me, or been in love with me even, I think that's just impossible. I'm just plain old Ally Dawson.

I start to think that Thomas was right about Austin, but I quickly push that out of my head. I need to focus on living, not living for a boy who doesn't think the same way about me. The twins run up to me, tugging on my shirt, and they say "Come with us to the river!" together perfectly.

I think about saying no, but I have nothing better to do. I nod with a smile and let them drag me with them, with Wanda not far behind, which I'm glad about. I'm not sure I would be able to handle this two on my own.

When we get there, Wanda and I watch the twins jump around in the water and have a ball. That's another reason that I wish I could be there age, they just go and have fun and don't worry about all the things we have to worry about.

Wanda sits down on a rock and I join her. I still feel like me and her are strangers, since we've rarely talked here and even less back at school. I don't know anything about her, other than if she were to ever have kids she will be a great mother.

When the twins are done swimming, we head back to camp. We were gone for a while and when we get back the sun starts to set, so Frank starts the fire. I sit in between the twins, feeling odd about not sitting next to Austin, but we have not talked since this morning, and there is a weird feeling in the air between us.

The twins keep my thoughts occupied, talking about everything possible, changing subjects fast, getting distracted by a squirrel running by. I can feel a distant headache, and my broken wrist has been throbbing a lot today. About an hour into the fire, I feel completely exhausted, so I say goodnight out loud to everyone and head into the plane. No one is in here, so I figure the quietness will either freak me out or help me fall asleep.

I lie down, and keep Austin's blanket on his side for him later. I cuddle up to my backpack and close my eyes. Not hearing the others breathing, or snoring from Frank, is a weird feeling. I know that I won't be falling asleep until they all I come to bed. It's weird, I've been used to sleeping alone for so long, and now I can't stand it. If I ever do get to go home, I'm going to be so different, and I don't like that idea.

I hear footsteps walking into the plane, and I expect it to be Daniel, or Rick because they are usually the first ones to go sleep, but I feel someone lie down beside me and I realize its Austin. I'm facing the wall of the plane, so my backs to him, and I don't know If I want to turn around or not.

I decide upon pretending to be asleep, but it doesn't last long when I feel Austin's arm wrap around my waist, and his chest against my back. I don't move, I just let him hold me, wondering what happened between him and that girl. I thought that kiss changed things between us. It meant a lot to me, and I thought that's when he was going to open up to me, but he isn't ready. He is just sending me mixed signals that I have to not think about.

His face snuggles up into the back of my neck and I feel his warm breath, and it sends chills down my spine. The closeness like this to him makes me go crazy, but I don't show it. Does he know what he does to me? I know that that answer is no.

"Ally," He whispers against my neck, sending those chills through me again.

I mumble, "Mm." and I feel a smile on my neck now.

He starts to run his fingers on up and down my arm, and I suddenly find it very soothing. I feel myself go in a daze, and before I know it, his lips are on my neck. He's _kissing_ my neck. What does he think he's doing? Why am I not stopping him? Well maybe because it feels really good, and maybe that's because I'm half asleep.

I roll over onto my back, and look at him, "What are you"- but I'm interrupted by his lips crushing against mine. His kiss surprises me, and I can't help myself from kissing back. His lips on my neck already got me feeling crazy. Before I know it, I feel his hand slip under my shirt, and that's when I pull away.

"No." I whisper.

Austin turns onto his back and face palms himself, "I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking."

"It's okay." I say.

I wait for the room to start spinning, for me to become dizzy, because my thoughts are going crazy about what just happened. We've slept next to each other plenty of times and he's never done this. And just this morning he said how he has only cared about that other girl.

"It's not. I shouldn't have done that." He says.

"You didn't do anything." I say.

"Well you pushed me away and said no, that defiantly means I did something that I shouldn't have." He says.

"It's not that you did anything wrong and it's not that I wanted to stop exactly, it's just…" I say. I don't know how to say the thing I want to say so I stop there.

"What?" Austin asks.

"Forget it." I tell him and roll over onto my side again. We go silent after that, and the space between us feels cold as we both drift off to sleep eventually, at least I assume that he did.

When I wake up, no one's in the plane. I sigh loudly, thinking of how just yesterday morning I was so happy that Austin didn't leave me in the morning anymore, but I guess that's out the window. I know that a lot of things in my life are too good to be true, and it actually just sucks.

I sit up, suddenly not wanting to leave this plane at all today, but I can't look weak. I can't let a boy bring me down, that's just not going to happen. I grab a clean t-shirt and shorts that I haven't worn yet, and change quickly before someone comes in, and when I'm done I walk outside.

Everyone is in a circle around something, and they seem to all be yelling at each other. I don't know what stopped me from hearing this earlier while inside, but I jog over and join them. I don't know what I expected to see really, I thought maybe someone got hurt, the way every one was reacting, but when I get over there, and I understand what's going on. People are yelling at each other, blaming each other, and what I see them all circled around is, our last bit of food to hold us over, the bin that's always in the plane; completely tore up, all the food ruined, chewed on, ripped apart.

The twins are crying, I'm assuming from all the shouting and harsh words escaping out of everyone's mouths. Wanda's face matches the twins, and then everyone else is saying it's her fault. The noise, the words, it's aggravating me, and they aren't stopping while the twins beg them too. I can't believe Austin is even involved in this. I can't take it any second longer. I push threw them and stand in the middle, on top of the rubbish, "What the hell is going on!" I scream at the top of my lungs. They stop, all of them, even the twins and Wanda stop crying, and they just stare at me, a little shocked at my action.

"The food is ruined." Frank hisses at me.

"Wanda left it out last night!" Daniel yells.

"No I didn't!" Wanda cries, and the noise starts again.

"Hey!" I scream loudly again, "Shut up!" I say.

Austin's mouth drops at me, and then a smile appears on his face and I decide I will question that later, for now, "Do you guys hear yourselves? Look what you're doing to the twins, and Wanda. You're making me sick!" I say.

"She left it out all night, and now something got to it and we are going to starve!" Daniel says.

"Don't you think we should be worrying about what did this, not who left it out? This defiantly doesn't look like a small sized animal, we're dealing with something bigger here and maybe we could find out if you put in as much effort as you do to blame." I say.

"Maybe you're just saying this to cover up the fact that you left it out!" Rick says.

I turn to him in disbelief, and Austin speaks up, "Hey, don't you dare try to blame Ally. She hasn't touched the bin because she hardly eats anyway," he says and turns to me, "You're getting too skinny."

I shrug it off, because I am not in the mood to discuss my health issues, "Rick, I could say the same thing about you, but I could care less who left the food out. We need to stick together and find food to live on and try to find a way to get home." I say.

"Yeah like we are going to find any of that, I have never seen anything edible when I'm out in the woods, and there is no way of getting home." Daniel says.

I'm surprised at how they are acting, I have never seen either boys negative or well, mean, since we've got here. Now I know why they stick together here and in school, they are very much alike.

"If we all try, together, we will make it." I tell them.

Daniel and Rick roll their eyes at me and walk away, while Wanda takes the twins to the plane. Tiffany hadn't said much at all, just stood there with odd expressions, almost like she's feeling a bit guilty. It makes me actually want to think that she is the one that left the bin outside, but like I said, I'm not here to blame anybody.

Austin walks off too, and I'm suddenly struck with remembering the weird air between us, and I feel a tinge of sadness, but I try to ignore it. Frank nods at me, I'm assuming he's nodding in approval, but I don't ask, and he walks away too. Tiffany stays still for a moment before going towards the plane, and I'm still in my spot, like my feet at stuck in the dirt, and I stare at the pile of garbage.

I know how tough I was acting a few moments ago, but I can't help the terrible feeling I have in the pit of my stomach that things are going to become a lot worse than I ever imagined.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey everyone!**

**I'm so sorry for the long update. First of all, i am cheerleading and that takes up a lotttttttt of my time. Especially weekends and everyday after school and it gets more hectic in October. Also i have been pretty sick for a week so i've been trying to rest while i'm not cheering. Here is a shortish chapter to keep you going. I can't believe im at 407 reviews! That's so awesome! I love that you guys love this story and i hope i don't disappoint or lose any of my readers. Enjoy!**

There are questions that keep playing in my head, like; should I prepare myself for the worst, or take things day by day, or in this cause; hour by hour. I think preparing for something bad to happen at any moment may just drive me insane, but I can't enjoy any time spent here, no matter _which _person I spend it with.

I decided to gather wood for the fire with the twins, since they seem to enjoy it. Their cheeks are still slightly red from all the crying they did earlier, but the tears are dry, and the only sound coming from them is them sniffling every so often. I really want to start a conversation, but I am as speechless as they are.

I know I always wish that I was they're age right now, but the more I think about it, I realize that it would be awful to be their age and stuck here. They're too young to be told certain things, or even understand them, but not young enough to be excluded from our arguments and hard errands. I bet they are more home sick than any of us. I know that when I was their age I hated being away from my father longer than one night.

I pick up a few sticks, and I watch them stick together as they collect the biggest sticks they can hold. I'm happy they at least have each other; I think that's the one thing keeping them sane here. I want to ask them what they were doing on the plane by themselves, where they were going, but I feel like this isn't the right time. Actually I feel like there is never a right time to ask anyone anything here.

After we're done, I let the twins and Wanda set up the firewood, while I watch awkwardly, not knowing what to do with myself. Austin and Frank went off searching for some sort of food source, but that's going to be easy, and I doubt I'll see them back until dark. I find myself longing for a distraction, something that can preoccupy me; I could even go for a board game right about now.

I walk around the back of the plane; I don't really know why. I walk along the side, looking for something out of the ordinary. I see the wolves' claw marks on the side of the already beat up plane, and small piles of dirt where they tried digging into nowhere.

Just behind the right side of the plane is a big group of bushes, and I see something that catches my eye. I squint a little, and try to focus on it. It's not that big, and it's brown and matches the dirt under it nicely. I walk over to it and kneel down next to it. It only takes me a moment to realize exactly what it is; Stacy's diary.

I stare at it, eyes wide, and flashes of memories of Stacy replay in my mind, ending with the end of her life, and I feel myself get goose bumps in this 80 degree weather. I go to grab it but stop myself. Should I leave it here, or should I pick it up? What if we get out of here and her parents would have wanted something left of her? Yeah, I'm going to pick it up, shove it in my bag and bring it home, _if_ we get home.

I pick it up and whip the dirt off of it. Its thick pages crumpled from how much she used to. I sigh and walk into the plane, shoving it as nicely as I can into my bag. I then stare at my bag for a while, too tempted to read it. But I know that I really shouldn't, so I get up and walk out of the plane, and search yet again another distraction, from another thing now.

It seems like a long time ago when we crashed, when I watched Stacy die. Has it really been a long time, or is that just how I feel?

It's dark when Austin and Frank come back, like I expected. All of us are seated around the fire when they arrive back; empty handed. But nobody reacts to that, because I think we all knew that they weren't going to find anything. I guess we are all accepting the fact that soon we will be starving.

Austin takes a seat next to me, his face blank and motionless. Frank takes his seat next to the twins and we all pass along an even small piece of jerky to each other, and we eat in silence. Austin and Frank didn't have to explain, didn't have to tell us what went on. None of us wanted to know really, so there was no point in bringing up something so painful.

Everyone starts going to the plane to go to sleep, but I stay seated, and before I know it everyone's gone, except for Austin. He stares past the fire, but I'm not sure at what. We don't say anything to each other, and I'm too afraid to talk first, so I don't.

Suddenly, he gets up and walks away. I don't know where he went, and I sit here dumbfounded at why he did that, why he didn't talk to me. But before I can jump to too many conclusions, he's back, and takes a seat in front of me, with a guitar in his hand.

I don't realize what he's doing, because I'm too stupid to figure things out quickly, and when I'm about to question him, he starts _singing_.

"_There are so many things  
That I never ever get to say  
'Cause I'm always tongue-tied  
With my words getting in the way."_

He starts, and he locks his eyes on mine.

_"If you could read my mind  
Then all your doubts would be left behind  
And every little thing  
Would be falling into place_

I would scream to the world  
They would see you're my girl  
But I just keep getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up

In the middle of a perfect day, I'm tripping over words to say  
'Cause I don't want to keep you guessing  
But I always end up getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up"

He's playing perfectly, he's singing perfectly, and I feel like he wrote this song, and that the words he's saying; he means them.

_"It's the way that I feel  
When you say what you say to me  
That keeps you running through my mind  
24 hours a day, 7 days a week_

And if you've got the time  
Stick around and you'll realize  
That it's worth every minute that it takes  
Just wait and see

I would scream to the world  
They would see you're my girl  
But I just keep getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up"

I remember his words he said to me, that he's only sang in front of one person, and he hasn't since, because singing is opening his heart out to someone. And now he's doing it to _me_.

"In the middle of a perfect day, I'm tripping over words to say  
'Cause I don't want to keep you guessing  
But I always end up getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up

I'm over the chances wasted  
Tell me, it's not too late  
It's only the nervous times  
That keep me bottled up inside

Keep getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up

In the middle of a perfect day, I'm tripping over words to say  
'Cause I don't want to keep you guessing  
But I always end up getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up

'Cause I don't want to keep you guessing  
But I always end up getting stuck, stuck  
But I'm never giving up, up."

He stops, and puts the guitar beside him. He sits right next to me, keeping his eyes on my face. I must look stupid right now, my frozen face, unsure of what to say or do. Finally, all I can say is, "You sang to me."

He smiles when I say it and nods, "I did."

His smile makes me go back to almost normal, feeling more comfortable, like something warm goes through my body, "Thee Austin Moon is stuck when it comes to talking to a girl?" I ask and raise my eyebrow.

"Only when I try to tell the most beautiful girl in the world that I think I'm in love with her." He says.

**The song used is Stuck by Big Time Rush.**


	19. Chapter 19

**You guys will probably hate me for this chapter, but i gots to keep the story going(;**

I could say I thought I was dreaming at this point, but I know I'm not. The only dreams I have had since crashing here are nightmares, and this is defiantly not a nightmare. Austin runs his hand through his hair and looks down at the ground, trying to hide his blush appearing on his already warm cheeks. I almost wanted to laugh at how he just blurted that out after singing a song about not being able to tell me. It was a cute contradiction.

I'm too busy thinking of random things and I realize that I am not thinking of the most important thing; what he just said. _Only when I try to tell the most beautiful girl in the world that I think I'm in love with her_; his words play in my mind over and over.

I can comprehend it really. First, I'm the most beautiful girl in the world? He has to be blind. But he thinks he's in love with me? Holy shit Ally Dawson, holy shit. He's waiting for a response, that's what he's waiting for and I am just sitting here, being stupid, like usual. I'm making the poor boy suffer because I'm not good with words.

Maybe this wasn't the best response, but it's all I had, "You think?" I choke out.

I notice his body tense up, and it seems like he's fighting the urge to brush his fingers through his hair again. I don't think I should have asked that. I think he was expecting something more from me, like an 'I think I'm in love with you too', or something.

"I don't know, I've only been in love one other time, and it was a couple years ago. I've tried to push all those feelings away, I told myself I'd never fall for someone again. But I can't stop thinking about you; I can't stop worrying that something could happen to you at any moment. It's like I don't have to protect you, I _need_ to protect you because I don't know what I'd do if you weren't in my life." He says.

I think of how that's exactly what I feel for him. When he was gone, I felt so lost and empty and I hated that I couldn't protect him out there. I know I wouldn't be able to survive out here without him, "I didn't know you felt this way. You've sort of been pushing me away lately." I whisper.

"I know. It's because I was scared. But I figured it was time to man up." He says.

Before we can finish our conversation, Frank runs frantically out of the plane and stands in front of us, "Did you hear that?" He asks.

Austin and I look at each other, and then back at Frank, "No. Hear what?" Austin asks.

But before Frank answers us, two loud howls answer for us, "Get in the plane!" Frank yells.

Austin grabs my hand and I figure he's going to start to run, but instead he grabs my waist and pulls me to him, and kisses me hard, for just a moment, and then starts running to the plane. When we enter, everyone is sitting up, eyes wide with fear. Frank closes up the entrance way and Austin and I sit next to each other at our sleeping spots.

I remember the last time this happened, and I inch away from the window. Austin pulls me onto his lap and I put my head on his shoulder and cover my ears like I'm four years old, but I don't care. I don't want to go through this again. Austin brushes his fingers through my hair and his slow, calm breathing makes me feel calm, too.

Frank finishes up blocking every opening he is aware of, and then takes a seat next to the twins who are freaking out. He's trying to keep everyone quiet so we won't give us away, but that doesn't seem possible. Daniel and Rick are saying random stupid things, like they are sick of hiding from the stupid wolves or let's cook one for dinner. But little do they know that they would get killed in a minute trying to go up against the pack, but they're too ignorant to think that.

Different noises start outside, and I know that they know we are in here. I cover my ears again and try to think of happy things, like the song Austin just sang to me, and the words he said. But then I think of how I didn't get to respond, because yet again our conversation was interrupted. That seems to happen too much.

"I just want to go home, damn it!" Rick yells and covers his eyes.

"We all do!" Wanda snaps.

"This is no time to argue children." Frank says in a low tone. He's still listening, trying to find out what the wolves are doing outside. Everyone was quiet after that.

It was weird, but they got quiet fast and we waited for what seemed like forever for the noise to start again, but it didn't. So with that, we decided to attempt to sleep. I got off of Austin's lap and went to my spot, and eventually we both fell asleep, not saying a word about anything that happened.

I'm awoken from my sleep by a strange noise coming from the end of the plane. I open my eyes and the sun is starting to rise, so it's not as dark. I sit up and look around, everyone is sound asleep. I stand up slowly and go towards the closed opening of the plane, and start to move a board back to see outside. I don't see anything, so I step outside, and that's when a pain in my head strikes me, and everything goes black.

**Austin's POV: Oh yeah, awesome right? (:**

When I wake up, I realize I feel emptiness near me, and that's when I sit up fast, realizing Ally wasn't lying beside me. Everyone is always up before her, including me. I usually watch her sleep for a few minutes and then leave the plane. But she's never the first one up. I look around and everyone else is asleep, and I know something can't be right. Why would she go outside after everything that happened last night? We can't know if it is actually safe or not.

I get up and go to the opening of the plane, and I see there is a small enough opening that Ally could fit her small body through. I tear off a piece of board and walk outside. I look around, and nothing seems to be out of the ordinary, expect for the fact that Ally wasn't out there, "Ally!" I yell.

I stop and listen, but no response comes. I yell it a few more times, nothing. Eventually everyone starts to wake up, from my yelling I assume, and they pile outside.

"What's going on?" Frank asks me.

"Ally's gone." I say, and run my fingers through my hair, a nervous habit of mine.

"What?" Everyone says in a wave of voices.

"She's probably at the river or something." Rick says.

I shake my head, "She would never go this early, or alone. She wouldn't go alone after what happened to her before." I say.

"Maybe she's on a walk." Wanda says.

I shake my head again in frustration, "She's always the last one up and now suddenly she's up at the crack of dawn to go for a walk, seems unlikely to me. Something is really wrong." I say.

"Well let's go search for her." Daniel says.

Frank shakes his head now, "The wolves were just here last night, that's too dangerous." He says.

"And Ally's out there! We can't just stand here and do nothing." I say.

"You sound just like Ally did when you were missing." Dannie says.

I know she's young and doesn't know any better, but those words sent pain through me. I know Ally went through hell when I made her leave me, and now I'm stuck here without her. I know something is wrong, I know she would never leave me like this. Or did she because of what I said yesterday? Maybe she doesn't love me back.

I get a sick feeling in my stomach and I walk away from everyone, and go into the plane. I sit down and hold my head in my hands, not knowing what to think now. I can't let myself think that she would actually just leave like this. There is no way she could survive long out there on her own and she must know that. Ally Dawson is a smart girl, and this is not something she would do.

I rock back and forth slightly, trying to figure out what I'm going to do. It seems like no one is going to help me find her because it's too dangerous, which means it's defiantly too dangerous for me to go alone, but I could care less now. I'm already nothing without her, and she didn't just sit here and wait for me to come back, she went out there and looked for me. I owe it to her.

I grab my backpack, and pack it with everything I can find. My blanket, a flashlight, and I grab a pack of dried fruit while I walk out. Everyone watches me in silence as I head for the woods, but I soon hear footsteps behind me. I turn around and it's Frank, Rick and Tiffany. I stop and turn to them, staring at them.

"We can't let you go alone." Frank says.

"I'm fine." I say.

"No, you aren't. We're coming." Rick says firmly.

I nod at them and lead the way, except I don't know where that way is. I don't really know where to look or what to do because none of this makes sense. There are no clues, no trails, nothing at all. So where do I even start?

"Where are we going?" Frank asks.

"I don't know." I say.

"Well we need to have a starting point. We can't just walk around the woods." Rick says.

"Don't you think I know that?" I snap.

"Let's just go towards the river and go from there." Tiffany says.

I'm interested in knowing why she would come with. I mean, her and Ally aren't friends, and I'm sure the twins could use another girl with them. That means Daniel and Wanda, they are alone with the twins; I hope they can handle that.

When we get to the river, we looked around for any trace of Ally, but there is none, like I expected. Frank and Rick talk about where they should go, and I watch Tiffany walk around slowly, staring at the water. I stare at the ground, not knowing what to do with myself.

"So we're going to go that way, circle around and it should be dark by the time we get back to camp." Frank says.

I nod and then follow him and Rick, since they know what to do. Yeah, they can think clear and plan things out because they aren't in love with the girl that's missing. But I can't bare this; I can't stand this at all, which makes me not be able to think very clear.

"Ally!" We all take turns yelling, but with no luck.

The sun is setting, and we start to head back, "This is like déjà vu." Rick says.

"What do you mean?" Frank asks.

"How we looked for Austin." I hear him say.

"Well, at least we knew sort of what happened to me, we have no idea what happened to Ally." I say.

Rick stops and looks back, sort of shocked. I guess he didn't know I was in ear shot. He nods and turns around and continues walking.

"I don't understand; this isn't like her." Frank says.

"I know." I say.

"There aren't any trails of blood like when Thomas got, um, taken. So I don't think it was an animal." Rick says.

I cringe at that sentence. I don't want to think of Ally getting attacked by any animals. Her small petite body is no match against any of them. She wouldn't have a chance.

"It doesn't add up." Frank says.

When we get back to camp I set up the firewood and try to distract myself. I keep looking towards the plane, thinking Ally is going to walk out anytime like she usually does. She spends a lot of time in there away from everyone. I try not to take it too personally; I know it's hard for her.

I know that sleeping later is going to be terrible, and I'm going to realize how bad Ally felt when I wasn't right there. I think about not sleeping at all, but that won't help me when I search for her tomorrow. I need to try to figure out where I'm going to look, what I'm going to do. It's so hard not knowing anything at all. I just want her back; I just want this to never have happened. I just got the guts to sing to her, to tell her I love her, and now just like that she's gone.

We all sit down around the fire, and I skip my allow piece of fruit. I don't care for food or anything right now. It's not like I'd be full anyway. The food is running out, and we still haven't found any food source except for some berries that none of us know are poisonous or not, and I don't think anyone would want to take that chance.

"Where's Ally?" Sammy asks while nibbling on her fruit.

We all look at her, and then turn to each other, waiting for someone to speak up first, but no one does. After a while, it's Wanda who says, "We're not sure honey."

"Why?" She asks.

I stand up and walk into the plane, not being able to handle all of the questions she was going to ask. I lie down on my spot and stare up at the ceiling. Its dark and my eyes are trying to focus, but all I see are odd shapes forming. It's too quiet in here and I realize I never come in here alone. Everyone's always asleep or Ally's next to me. I don't like silence at all.


	20. Chapter 20

I think I got about two hours of sleep, and as I'm walking out of the plane in the cool morning air I realize that my whole getting my rest so I could search for Ally is out the window. I'm going to be really tired, but I don't care, as long as I find her today.

Rick and Daniel are standing with their backpacks staring at me, and I don't have to ask them to know that they are the ones coming with me today. Frank is with the twins somewhere, and Tiffany and Wanda were stills sleeping when I got up.

I am kind of nervous to have them with me. I don't really talk to either of them, and none of us were ever friends back home. They aren't really the type of people I hung out with at school, but then again neither is Ally. When we get home, I have a feeling a lot of things are going to be different; if we get home that is.

They both look at me, almost like they want my approval. I nod at them and go grab my backpack. We start walking in the complete opposite direction as yesterday, and it makes me think they planned this all out. I don't know if I should be scared, or grateful, because I have no idea what I'm doing and they seem like they actually do.

Rick and Daniel are pretty tough, tougher than I thought they were. When we crashed, If was asked who I thought would die and who I thought would live, I would have defiantly thought Caroline would have lived longer than Rick. Rick was always weak at school when it came to everyday things, and he couldn't even take a hit at the one football practice he showed up for. But Caroline was a tough girl, and I defiantly didn't expect her to go like she did.

I didn't think Stacy would go_ that_ fast. I think we could have really used her. She's so smart, I bet she would have figured out where we were, and would have probably been able to tell us if we can eat those berries. I can't imagine what her family feels like right now. They don't know if she's alive or dead, and now they have to wait for that horrible news. I bet all our parents are feeling that way right now.

"We're going to find your girl Austin." Rick says out of nowhere.

We're walking through a muddy patch and Daniel's trying not to fall over, so Rick helps him but holding on to his shoulders. He looks at me with a smile after he says it and I just look at him.

"She's not my girl." I say.

Daniel laughs, "Oh, okay. The girl you wish was yours then." He says.

"What makes you think that?" I say, and then avoid tripping over a large stick.

"It's obvious." Rick says.

"We all see it." Daniels says right after.

"I mean, if this was at home at the school, you two wouldn't even be near each other." Rick says.

I stop and turn to him, "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"I don't know. I just found it odd. I guess tragedy brings some people together." He says.

I don't like how he's saying the things he is, but I decide not to say anything because if it leads to a fight, I'll probably pound the crap out of him, and then I'd have to deal with him the rest of the time we are here. It's already hard enough as it is. I just nod at him and we all start walking again. I wait for them to say more things, but they don't so the silence thickens.

I've never been in this part of the woods. The only word I can think of to describe it is; sketchy. There are so many trees and thick ones too; it's like walking through an obstacle course. It's really muddy in a lot of spots and those berry bushes are everywhere. The whole area reminds me of some scary horror movie and I would hate to be here at night.

A noise startles us and the three of us stop at the same time. I look all around, but I don't see anything. The noise happens again, and I hear Rick mumble something under his breath. I turn to him, and he's look right at me. I follow his eyes and that's when I see the paws of a wolf under a few bushes a few feet away from us.

_Damn it. _Is all the goes through my head. Why does this keep happening? It's unreal. This whole location we're stranded on is defiantly hell. I have major déjà vu because I have had to run away from these damn wolves many times, and I don't have the mental strength to figure out a plan, so I really hope Rick and Daniel have one.

But apparently they don't, because all of us stay still and stare at the animal, which seems to just be staring back. I don't know what will happen if we just turned around and walked away. Would it chase after us, or would it just watch us leave?

I can't figure out these wolves. Sometimes they will try to attack, others they don't seem to bother. And I defiantly can't tell which scenario is going to happen right now. But what happens next, I defiantly did not expect. Rick turns around and runs away. Daniel and I look at each other, completely dumbfounded as the wolf leaps out of the bushes and runs after Rick.

"Watch out Rick!" I yell.

Daniel and I run after them, knowing we have to help Rick somehow. It doesn't take long for the wolf to catch us to Rick, and snatch him on the ankle. Rick falls down to the ground, screaming bloody murder as the wolf gnaws on his flesh.

Daniel grabs the biggest stick he can find and knocks the wolf right on the head with it. He yelps but doesn't go down. Now he's just _pissed_. He stands in front of Rick, and shows his teeth like he's guarding his snack from us. Daniel backs away and stands beside me. I can't help thinking we all just screwed ourselves.

He bows down in his attack stance right in front of Daniel, who stays frozen in fear. I know he's going to attack him, and it could be bad. What am I going to do? Should I try and stop it? Sure Daniel and I aren't really friends but I can't let anyone get hurt.

The wolf jumps towards Daniel and I shove him out of the way before he gets to him, except I suddenly feel the wolf's sharp teeth dig into my shin. I scream out in pain and that's when I start to feel dizzy. I hear the wolf yelp again and when I get my eyes to focus I realize Daniel hit it over the head again _hard_.

"Because killing one of them is defiantly going to make the pack happy with us!" Rick screams at Daniel.

"It was going to kill us you idiot!" Daniel screams back.

I lie back down on my back and scream as loud as I can, because I'm annoyed by their argument and my shin is throbbing with pain and the blood is starting to form a puddle under it. I get their attention because they both turn to me, and then look at my shin. I see Rick turn pale and Daniel kneels down next to me.

"Shit dude." He says and takes off his flannel shirt, revealing his white T-shirt.

He wraps the shirt around my leg and ties it as tightly as he can. I flitch at the pain but I know the tighter it is the better. Rick stares at the dead wolf while Daniel finishes covering up my wound. He's looking at it like it might not be dead and will jump at him at any moment. But this isn't a horror movie, so I doubt that is going to happen.

"We need to get you back to camp. There might be something in the first aid kit." Daniel says as he helps me up.

"What about Ally?" I ask.

"We will look for her again later; we have to help you first." He says.

"We have to find her now. What if she got hurt too?" I say.

But he doesn't listen to me. Rick comes over and I use them as support as they walk me back to the plane. It was a long trip back and by the time they sat me down next to the fire, the flannel shirt was soaked in blood.

Frank rushes over to me, and looks at my leg, "What happened?" He asks.

"A wolf decided to use my shin as a shoe toy." I say through gritted teeth, the pain suddenly getting to me more than before.

Tiffany comes over with the first aid kit, and Frank looks through it. He hands me two Advil he found, and Tiffany brings me some water. I watch him put on a ton of big bandages, and then two ace bandages. I assume the blood will be through all of that in a few hours, but I know he did all that he could.

Everyone gathers around the fire and asks me what happened. Daniel and Rick already went to bed, so I'm stuck with the questions. I really want to tell them to leave me the hell alone, but I'm too nice I guess, "Well we were walking and we heard a noise. So we all stopped, and then we noticed the wolf staring at us." I say.

"So why did they attack you then?" Tiffany asks.

I sigh, "Rick decided to run away."

I see Frank roll his eyes, "Idiot." He says.

"And then the wolf ran after him. Daniel and I went after them both, and found the wolf attacking him. So Daniel hit the wolf over the head with a big branch, and that obviously pissed it off. It jumped to attack Daniel but I pushed him out of the way and then that happened." I say, eyeing my leg.

"Wow." Tiffany says.

"I guess they do attack huh?" Frank says.

"That's obvious. They got Thomas remember?" Wanda says.

Thomas… I forgot about Thomas.

"Well this wolf attacked in a whole different part of the woods and because Rick tried running. Why would the wolf snatch Thomas when he was walking out of the plane?" I say.

"Who knows really? These wolves are smart." Frank says.

"I guess so." I say.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hey guys, sorry for not posting in a while. Like i said before i was supeerrr busy with cheerleading, but now its over and i don't have competition cheerleading til the end of November so hopefully i will be updating more. Enjoy this short chapter. It answers your questions.**

**Ally's POV:**

When I wake up, I feel a familiar aching pain in my head, and when I open my eyes I'm surrounded by darkness, with only a crack of light in the distance. The air is chilled and nothing about this seems right. It doesn't feel or sound like the plane, where am I?

I sit up, and tip toe towards the light. The ground is cold, and feels wooden. I stretch my hand towards where the lights coming from, it looks like a door. But right before I can touch it, it opens. I gasp at the movement and run back towards where I was laying.

The door slams shut then, and I hear footsteps coming towards me, "What do you think you were doing?"

I don't say anything. I just sit there, focusing on where I've heard this voice before. It doesn't take me long to realize exactly whose it is.

**Austin's POV:**

When I woke up, it was in the middle of the night, and like I figured, blood was going through my bandages. But I don't have enough strength to go find the first aid kit and change them. Before I know it, I fall back to sleep.

When I wake up again, I know that it must be morning. The plane is full of light and I feel something on my leg. When I look down, I see Tiffany is changing my bandages. She gives me a small smile and I just nod at her and then lay my head back down.

I don't pay much attention to her sudden interest in me, because all I can think about is Ally, and how I need to be out there right now, searching for her. But the loss of blood is causing me to slow down, and I can't let that happen.

I sit up, and Tiffany wraps up one last part of my wound, "Thanks." I say and then stand myself up. She looks at me and shakes her head.

"You should lie down." She says.

"I can't. I have to go find Ally." I tell her.

"You're hurt. You can't do that." She says.

I brush past her and limp my way out of the plane, to find the rest of the gang sitting around the burnt out fire. When Frank notices me, he jogs over and looks at my leg, "What are you doing?" He asks.

"I have to go find Ally." I say.

"Austin, get real here. You're hurt, and no matter how many circles you do in the woods, it's not going to bring Ally back to us. If she's okay out there, then she will find her way back, but there's just nothing we can do anymore." He says.

I look at him, and my mouth drops a little. I cannot believe he just said that. Frank hasn't let me down once since we've met, but now, I can't even stand the sight of him. I decide not to say anything to him. Like my mother always told me, 'if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.' I turn around and walk away, past the plane, past Tiffany's sad eyes and I go to the area where I found Ally right after the plane went down.

I sit down in the grass and hug my knees. It feels like everyone has given up, except me. I feel alone in this awful place we're at. Maybe we all died when the plane went down and this is hell, because it sure feels like it. I don't know what to do without Ally. I can't even bare to think about what I'll do if I never see her again. But I know I'll see her again. I know that she is okay, she must be okay.

I feel like I lost touch with reality, because I suddenly realize that it's now dark out, and I've been spacing out for quite a while. I hear noises behind me, so I turn my head fast and see Rick walking towards me. I turn my head back and stay seated. He walks over and sits in front of me.

"I was getting worried about you. You've been out here for a while." He says. I just shrug my shoulders at him as a response.

"You know, I was thinking of this whole Ally situation. And it's really weird… It's as weird as when Thomas disappeared." He says.

This gets my attention, and I look up at him, "What do you mean?" I ask.

"Well, Thomas disappeared randomly, all the sudden the wolves decided to take him when they never really threatened us before. And then after that our food goes missing, and then Ally suddenly disappears like that too? Something doesn't seem right." He says.

I suddenly get flash backs of Thomas, and how he felt about Ally. And that day I found the two of them in the woods, and how Thomas was going to try something. The more I think of it, Rick makes a lot of sense.

"You don't think..."I say.

"That Thomas is alive? I'm almost certain." He says.

"And he has Ally." I say, not as a question, but as a realization.

"But the question is, where?" Rick says.

I'm almost angry. I'm almost _jealous_ of the fact that Rick realized this before I did. How could I have not thought of this? It all adds up now.

"There aren't many places to kidnap someone and hide them, I mean it's all open area. So why hasn't it been easy to find her?" Rick says.

Finally, I think of something before its too late, "When I was lost out there, I came across a small abandoned cabin, but I don't remember where it was. It was far from here though." I say.

"Well, that has to be it. Now we just have to find the place. First thing in the morning, I'll go, and I'll bring Daniel." He says.

"And me." I say.

He takes a look at my leg, and I follow his eyes. The blood is already going through my new bandages, "I don't care about that. There's nothing we can do about it, so I mind as well not just lay here and wait to bleed to death." I say.

He sighs, "There is no way I will be able to talk you out of this, is there?"

"Never." I say.


	22. Chapter 22

**Happy Halloween :3**

The fire is already started when Rick and I go back to the plane. We sit next to each other in front of the fire as everyone gathers around, passing one of the last bags of dried fruit we have. I figure that this is a good opportunity to talk to everyone.

"So…" I say and clear my throat. Everyone looks at me, nibbling on their food.

"Rick and I have come to a realization." I say, and then look at him. He nods and I continue, "Ally didn't get taken by the wolves. And she didn't just run away or something. Thomas took her." I say.

Everyone stops what they're doing and just stare at me, completely dumbfounded by my words. Frank is the first person to speak up, and I can't really say that I'm surprised, "What makes you think that? Thomas was taken by the wolves." He says.

"The wolves never really harmed us before, unless we scare them of course. So it made no sense for Thomas to be all the sudden taken. Plus after he left is when things like our food went missing, and then what are the odds that Ally's suddenly gone just like that too? He had a thing for Ally, and he was mad because she didn't like him back. I witnessed him attempt to take advantage of her." I say, looking at the twins, trying not to say anything to make them ask questions.

"I think you're just getting your own hopes up." Frank says.

Before I can rip his head off, Rick takes over, "It's true. I agree with it one hundred percent, it was defiantly Thomas. It all adds up, now all we have to do is find them. There is a cabin somewhere; Austin remembers seeing it, now we just have to find it." He says.

"Oh okay, because it makes a lot of sense to go into the woods to look for a cabin that's who knows where." Tiffany says.

"It makes sense to me, I'm in." Wanda says.

Tiffany gives Wanda an evil stare, but she doesn't pay any attention to it. Frank sits in silence, thinking over everything I assume. I figure I'll give him the night to think it through. I stand up, and go into the plane. I have no reason to sit there anymore, knowing that only Rick and Wanda want to help. Daniel didn't even say a word, so I assume that means he isn't in.

I lie down on my back, the pain in my leg suddenly getting to me. I know that it must be infected, but I don't dare to take off my bandages. The blood is starting to dry while new blood tries to poke its way out. I don't think I should bother changing the bandages tonight, because it will just happen again.

I can't find a way to fall asleep. It seems like any way that I lay, I'm uncomfortable. And every time I find myself the slightest bit comfortable and drift to sleep, I start having a nightmare about Ally, and what Thomas could be doing to her right now…

**Ally's POV:  
**"Thomas…" I whisper.

I know that if I could see in this darkness right now, he'd have the biggest grin ever on his face, "Did you miss me, baby girl?" He asks.

"I thought you were dead." I say, clenching my fists.

"You thought wrong." He says, his tone makes him sound like a psycho path.

He walks over to a window and opens the shade, letting the bright sunlight shine in. I have to put up my arm to block my eyes. It must be afternoon, how long have I been knocked out? I touch my head and feel a slight bump. It hurts a lot, and I assume that I must have a concussion, or something more serious.

He walks over to a small table in the corner of the room, and sits down. That's when I realize what's on the table; all the food that went missing from the plane. No animal got to it, it was Thomas all along. How could all of us have been so stupid? It makes sense now.

I watch him open up a package of jerky and start to eat. He just sits there; minding his own business like I'm not even in the room; acts like he didn't just kidnap someone, or steal food from people who need it. He truly has lost it. In a way I feel bad, because it's probably not his fault. Things like this can cause people to completely lose it, right?

I stay seated on the small mattress, too afraid to make a move. I have to think this through. I have to think of what I can do, and what I can say to get out of this. But I have a bad feeling that I'll need to do more than that. I can remember that day at the river with Thomas. If Austin hadn't showed up, would I have been able to talk my way out of it? I don't think so.

I start to think of what's going on back at the plane. Did they realize I'm gone? They must have by now. Do they think I'm dead? I bet they do. Thomas probably made it seem like his death, and now they won't bother looking for me. But I refuse to think that Austin would give up on me like that. He knows that I would never give up on him. He has to be out there, looking for me…

**Austin's POV:**

I get out of bed as soon as the sun rises, grabbing my half empty backpack while waking up Rick. When we go outside, we pack a few snacks and extra supplies, when Wanda walks out, dressed and ready. I'm glad she decided to come; we can use all the extra help.

Frank hasn't come out of the plane yet, and I don't know If I'm surprised or not. By everything he said yesterday, I could tell he didn't want to join in on our rescue plan, and frankly I didn't want him around after the things he said, because I may just beat the living hell out of him, but I think we could have used him.

"Ready?" Rick asks me while shoving a small first aid kit into his bag. It reminds me of my leg, so I sit down on a log, "In a second." I say as I roll up my pant leg, exposing my blood drenched bandage. Wanda squirms and turns away, and Rick sighs and walks over to our bin of stuff.

He comes back with another bandage, and I wrap it around my dirty one quickly and then stand up, "Ready now." I tell them.

Rick nods and starts walking, along with Wanda not far behind. Right when were just far enough to barely see the plane, Daniel jogs over to us. We stop and look at him while he bends over to catch his breath, "Joining us?" Rick asks.

All Daniel does is nod, and then we start walking again. Rick goes into a long speech about where we are going, and where he thinks the cabin should be located. I don't know how he figures what he does, I mean he's never seen it; I have, so how would he know?

"Shouldn't I be making this mental map? I am the one that saw the cabin." I blurt out.

"Well you said you forgot, but go for it." Rick says in an impatient tone. I try to ignore it.

"Well I know the spot I was at before Ally and I went separate ways; that should help." I tell him.

"Okay, well guide us then." Wanda says; which I must say surprises me a little.

None of us say a word after that. Everyone just follows me and tries their hardest not to trip over the many tree roots, and fallen tree branches. Ally is so clumsy; I don't see her making her way back to us safely on her own. I mean I can barely walk in this, and I'm pretty steady on my feet.

After what seems like forever, we finally reach the exact spot. I know that it's the exact spot; how I know that, I can't tell you. I stand and turn around in a circle, eyeing every area. Rick looks at me and his head falls sideways, "I take it that this is the place?" He asks.

I nod at him and watch as Wanda and Daniel stop walking and stare at me too. I just look at them with a confused expression, "What?" I ask.

"What now?" Wanda asks.

"Well, I ran in that direction," I say and point, "So that must be where the cabin is. I just can't tell you where exactly because it started to get dark and I don't remember." I say.

She nods and then walks in the direction. Rick and Daniel wait for me to go next, which I do. And that's when I quietly pray to myself that Ally isn't too far away.


	23. Chapter 23

**Ally's POV:  
**Thomas continues to sit down and eat, while I'm frozen with fear, watching him. I want to say something, I want to ask him questions, but I don't know if that would cause him to snap and hurt me. So maybe silence is the best way to go.

I look around the small room. It's old and dirty and seems like it has been abandoned for quite a while. I wonder where it's located because I don't remember seeing any buildings. I would think maybe this is a good sign, that maybe there are people somewhere, not far from here. But the large variety and dust and spiders makes me think that no one has been here in ages.

Thomas grabs a piece of jerky and walks over to me. I inch away on the mattress until my back hits the wall, trying to avoid any closeness to him. He shakes his head at me and hands me the jerky. I just look at him, and he wiggles it in my face, "I know you're hungry." He says.

I just shrug. I think of how he could have poisoned it, but then I think that it would be ridiculous of him to go through all this trouble to kidnap me just to kill me soon after. But I still don't know if I want to take it from him, because would he think everything's okay if I do, because it sure as hell isn't.

"Please, I don't want you to starve." He says.

I want to laugh but I control myself. Does he really care about me? Maybe in his sick mind he kind of does. I just shake my head, and that's when his eyes narrow, "Take the damn jerky." He says in an angry tone that scares me. I've never seen that part of him, and I don't want to see it again. I take the jerky nicely from his hand and nibble on it. He smiles then and gets up and goes back to his table.

When he looks away, I let my hand shake uncontrollably like it's wanted to do, but I didn't want to show Thomas my fear, which I have a lot of. I don't know what he's capable of anymore.

**Austin's POV:**

We've been walking for what seems like forever, and it must be at least an hour for sure, with no luck. None of us have seen a cabin or anything at all. We passed the little shack I stayed in when I was lost out here, but there was no sign of them.

We keep walking in silence, none of us wanting to set off the other, because that seems to be what our moods are. Probably because we are all tired and anxious, and just want to find Ally. Well, that's how I feel anyway. I need her; the emptiness just keeps lingering and it needs to go away, I just want Ally back.

"This is getting ridiculous." Daniel says suddenly as were walking.

"What?" Wanda asks.

"We haven't found anything and we've been walking for awhile. How is this going to help?" He asks.

"We're looking for her, that's how it's helping." Rick says.

"Well she obviously isn't out here!" Daniel says.

"Shut up." Wanda says.

"Screw you. I'm just saying what we are all thinking." Daniel says.

I stop and turn to him, "Then go back to the plane." I say through gritted teeth.

"Oh is Austin Moon getting angry?" Daniel says.

"Shut up Daniel." Rick says.

"You know, this was just a stupid idea in the first place. Obviously your girlfriend isn't around, and if she is she'll show up." Daniel says.

Wanda shakes her head and I clench my fist, ready to hit at any time. Rick notices and steps between Daniel and me, "Okay guys, and let's calm down and Daniel will you just go back since you are having such a problem with this." He says.

"Guys, shut up!" Wanda says.

"You shut up!" Daniel says.

"No seriously, shut up and look." She says. Then we all follow where she's pointing and that's when we see it, not too far from us, hidden just behind the trees; the cabin.

**Ally's POV:**

I finish up my jerky and watch Thomas closely. He puts all of the food away in a small container he has and turns his chair around to face me and sits down. He just looks at me, so I put my attention to the floor.

"So how are you and Austin doing since I left?" He asks.

"There is no me and Austin." I say lowly.

He laughs, "Oh okay, right, sure." He says and shakes his head.

"Why do you care?" I ask, being risky.

"Because he's an idiot and you deserve better." He says.

Just when I try to think of something to say, both Thomas and I hear something outside, like talking, but there still a good distance away. Thomas stands up fast, and his eyes widen, "Don't say anything or move." He says; his angry tone back.

He crouches down and goes over to the window. He moves the old moldy shade slightly and peaks out, and that's when I hear him use every curse word possible. He stands up and runs over to me and just looks at me, "What?" I ask.

"Shut up." He says and grabs his head with his hands, he's in total freak out mode, and I can't help thinking that this is good; someone's out there, maybe Austin.

Thomas grabs my arm _hard_ and pulls me towards the back of the cabin. I try to squirm out of his grip but he just tightens it, "Stop it." He half yells. Before I can do anything else, he's shoving me into a closet. I try to push him out of the way but he just shoves me and I stumble backwards into the wall. He shuts the door and whispers, "If you leave this closet, don't expect to ever see your boyfriend again." He says, and I have this horrible feeling that he really means it.

**Austin's POV:**

"What are we going to do now?" Rick asks.

"Let's go check it out." Wanda says.

We all walk over as quietly as we can, trying not to make too much noise, but I'm afraid our yelling probably gave us away already. I see fresh tracks in the mud in front of the front door, and that makes me think our theory was right. We keep our distance still and I wave everyone over to me and we get in a small circle, "Okay, let's see if there is a back door, and maybe we can ambush them that way." I say.

They all nod, and I walk towards the back with them right behind. But when we get back there, we realize that there is in fact no door, and that's when we hear something out front. We all run towards the sound and I catch a glimpse of Thomas running, "He's right there!" I yell and we all run after him.

He's a pretty fast runner, and I suddenly remember that he was on the track team back home, which doesn't give me much hope. We chase after him until we see him, just standing there, staring down at something. We don't realize what he's doing until we reach him. There's a huge cliff, and at the bottom of the long drop is the river, but also a lot of huge rocks. You'd die for sure if you went over, and I almost wish Thomas had gone over.

We all stop and keep our distance from Thomas, whose just staring at us, looking like a crazy person. If there wasn't a cliff right behind him, I'd jump him for sure.

"Where's Ally?" I yell at him.

A big smile appears on his face, "Oh, wouldn't you like to know." He says.

"Just give it up Thomas, she doesn't want you." Wanda says.

"She'll come around." He says.

"Where is she?!" I yell.

"Not where you want her to be. Which would be where, your pants?" He says sarcastically.

I lose it then and charge after him, grabbing him by his neck. He tries to rip my hands off of him, but he can't. Wanda is screaming for me to stop, but my anger just got to me. But I regretted it as soon as I heard Wanda's gasp. Before I know it, my arms are off Thomas and he has a knife to my throat. I freeze completely, and I watch Rick start going towards us, "Get any closer and I'll do it!" Thomas yells. Rick sticks his hands up in surrender and backs off. Wanda grabs Ricks arm and looks at us with fear.

"Now, you're all going to just leave me and Ally alone okay?" Thomas says.

"Ally doesn't want to be with you." Wanda cries.

"I'd like to hear that from her." Thomas says. I can feel the blade of the knife on my skin now.

"Thomas, stop it!" I hear a voice say from behind the others. I move my eyes as much as I can and I notice who it is, Ally.


	24. Chapter 24

**Don't hate me for this! **

**Ally's POV:**

I stayed in the closet, and listened for what Thomas did next. As soon as I heard the front door open, and many different footsteps running, I opened the door slightly. No one was around, and the front door was still open.

I walked out of the closet and went to the door, and that's when I saw him, Austin, and the others, running after Thomas. I hesitate, not knowing what to do. Thomas told me not to leave the closet, or he was going to hurt Austin, but I can't just stand here. I can't just stand here and wait, wait for Thomas to come back, or for who knows what to happen.

I have a long argument in my head with myself, debating on if I should go or not. Eventually, I can't take it anymore, and run in the direction I saw them heading. I don't stop running, until I get there and I'm not expecting the sight I see.

Daniel, Rick and Wanda are a good distance back, Rick's arms in surrender. I look at what their looking at, it's Thomas, with a knife to Austin's throat, and right behind them, the edge of a cliff. My mouth drops at the whole scenario, and I find myself arguing with my mind again, what do I do now? Well, I guess I'll do the only thing I can do.

I run over to them and stand in front of the others, "Thomas, stop it!" I scream.

Thomas' eyes widen, and then turn into anger, "What did I tell you!" He screams.

Austin's face is blanket, but his eyes are on me. I want to cry right there, this horrible sight. I could lose Austin at any moment, "Please Thomas, just stop." I say.

"Tell them you want me, not him." He says. I think for a moment; should I tell him that I do? Should I manipulate him into thinking I do and maybe he will let Austin go, or does that just happen in the movies? I don't know if I want to risk it.

"Thomas, you know how I feel. You can't just threaten people and get them to like you." I tell him.

"It didn't help me before." He says, his eyes turning wilder.

"Thomas, there are other girls out there, and they will be perfect for you. When we get home, your life will get better. Don't ruin it here." I tell him.

He laughs, "Yeah, like we will ever get home!" He says.

"We will, you just have to be patient." I tell him.

"Screw being patient, I've waited long enough!" He says.

"Thomas, please." I say.

"We aren't going to make it out of here alive, and we all know it. We mind as well end it now." He says, and starts walking backwards.

"Stop it Thomas!" Rick yells.

Austin tries to struggle out of him, but he tightens his grip, "If I'm going to die, Austin should too." He says.

"No, stop!" I scream.

He continues to back up, and looks behind him. He's right on the edge now, "Goodbye Ally." He says, and with that, he falls backwards. Me and Austin's eyes lock, and then it's like everything goes into slow motion. I feel myself get sucked into Austin's eyes, and I can feel his fear and agony, and then; they're both gone.

"No!" I scream as loud as possible, tears streaming.

I run over to the edge, and look. But I don't see anything. I sit down and completely lose it then, screaming and crying. The sobs are so hard I can't catch my breath. I hold on to my chest and lay down. Rick comes over and tries helping me up but I kick and scream at him to leave me alone. Wanda walks over, tears in her eyes too, "Ally, please let's just go back to the plane." She says.

"No!" I say. I don't want to leave here. I want Austin to be okay, I want him to be right here…

What happened after that is just a blur. All I know is, I must have had a nervous breakdown, because last I knew I was at the cliff, and now I'm lying down in my spot on the plane. My face is still wet with tears, and I feel like I could throw up at any moment. It's dark in the plane, which means it's defiantly night time. I look around until my eyes adjust, and everyone is fast asleep. I look over to the empty spot next to me and all the memories of what happened to Austin come flooding back. I can't stand to be here any longer, so I run out of the plane and it down next to the fire pit. I can't stop the loud sobs from escaping me.

I'm sure someone would tell me that this is a bad idea; being out in the open at night, being loud. But I could care less who I draw the attention of. I wouldn't mind dying here, because if we get rescued, going home without Austin doesn't seem right at all. Going back to school and not seeing him around doesn't seem right either. Being here without him now, is just awful.

I've cried so much that I think I may have run out of tears. I lay down on the grass next to the log and before I knew it, the sun was starting to rise. I stayed in that position until it was completely bright out, and everyone started waking up and coming outside. Frank jogged over when he first noticed me and sat down on the log, "Have you been out here all night?" He asks.

I just shrug at him. I'm not even sure if I could talk right now, the crying really did a job on me. I must be a terrible sight, but I don't really care, "You could have gotten attacked or something." He says.

Rick and Wanda walk over then, "I don't think she'd mind." Wanda says, not in a mean way, but in an understanding way; I think.

"Well we all can't just give up now. We have to find a way to get home." Frank says.

Rick laughs, "Yeah, good luck with that." He says and walks away.

Wanda sits down on the ground next to me and hugs her legs to her chest, "I think everyone's given up." She says, not necessarily to Frank, but to herself.

"Well we can't! If we do that, we all die too." He says, sounding frustrated. He walks away then, leaving Wanda and I alone.

"Are you okay?" She asks me.

I just shrug again, still not wanting to use my voice. She sighs and rests her head on her knees, "I'd say everything will be okay, and things will get better and all that normal bullshit, but I'm not going to lie to you like that." She says.

I find it sort of odd, her sudden interest in me, but I decide not to question it. Maybe she' lonely, I know I am. She's been good friends with Tiffany for a while, but Tiffany doesn't seem to leave the plane anymore. Like Wanda said, everyone is pretty much giving up, and I don't think there is anything anyone can say to make it better.

"I can't believe all of this happened. I would have nothing thought I'd have to go through something so tragic like this. I mean, all for a dumb school trip? It just isn't right." Wanda says in a low voice.

"I mean, nothing about this is right. It's just not fair, why us?" She says, and that's the end of her rant. She just goes silent and we stay how we are for a while. Eventually Rick and Daniel begin to set up the fire, and everything just seems to be going like it usually does, and that starts to make me feel sick.

I get up and walk into the plane. As much as I don't want to be in here, I really don't want to be outside with everyone. Even Tiffany decided to leave the plane and go outside, but I think that's because the twins made her.

As I lie here in the cold darkness, I can't stop the tears from returning, because nothing in this world seems right, without my Austin Moon.


	25. Chapter 25

I forced myself to keep my eyes open. I could not fall asleep again…

The last two times that I did, I fell into terrible nightmares; about Austin, about the plane crash, even about Stacy and Caroline. It was like all my memories of being stuck here were coming back to haunt me, even though I was still living it.

My first nightmare was about the plane crash. It was just like how it really happened, except none of us lived. Flashes of everyone dead, including me flooded my closed eyes, and I felt like I couldn't breathe, like I was being suffocated, and then thankfully I woke up. But I was so tired, I couldn't stand to keep my eyes open another moment, and that's when I had the nightmare about Austin.

It was like a horrible, slow motion replay him and Thomas going over the cliff, and me crying at the edge, searching desperately for him, but seeing nothing but rocks and water. I woke up in a cold sweat, but I wasn't in the dark. It was pretty bright out, so it must be close to the afternoon. I walk out of the plane and everyone's scattered around doing different things. I walk over to Wanda who is going threw her suitcase.

"What are you doing?" I ask her, thankful my voice is usable.

"Going through what clothes I want to soak in the river." She says.

"Boy do I miss smelling nice." I say and sigh.

She laughs slightly, "Don't we all?"

I nod and sit down on the ground, picking at the grass, trying somehow to preoccupy myself, "Want to go to the river with me and Rick?" She asks.

I shrug, "I don't know…" I tell her.

"I think you should. Take a nice refreshing dip in the river." She says with a sincere smile. I try to smile back, but it just turned into a fake one.

"Okay, I guess." I tell her.

I wait patiently for her to be done with the rest of her clothes, and I follow her and Rick to the river. We walk slowly, taking our time. It's not like we have anywhere to be right?

The sun is warm and sinking into my skin. I'd almost think of enjoying it if this was a different situation. I haven't spent this much time outside since I was really little. I rather be inside, sitting on my comfortable chair I have in my basement, reading a great book, like the last book of the Hunger Game series, I was half way through before I left… If only I had brought it with me.

When we get there, Wanda goes over to one side and starts soaking her clothes, while Rick stays with her, continuing a conversation, while I stand here awkwardly, staring at the clear water. I was starting to feel hypnotized by the way it flowed gently down the stream. I've never realized how beautiful it really is. It's the only beautiful thing I've seen here at this terrible place, besides Austin Moon.

I breathe in the fresh air, soaking it up in my lungs, wanting nothing more but to be transported to a different place. But sadly that is just a daydream, an 11:11 wish, a terrible, terrible wanting feeling, that will never happen. Or at least it feels that way.

I can't take it anymore; I need to escape from my thoughts. I take off my dirty, beaten up converse and jump into the river. At first, it's an ice cold shock. But my body gets used to it fast as I come up for air and start floating on my back.

I float for a while, and then go back under. I open my eyes, and watch a few fish swim by me as I stay as still as I can. I let my eyes roam until I see something up ahead floating the water. I come up again, and move my soaked hair out of my face so I could see. But what I see, I wasn't prepared for.

I scream loudly, grabbing the attention of Wanda and Rick who then look in my direction, sharing the same horrified expression that I have. As I stand here, still as a statue, I watch Thomas' dead body float by me down the river. The feeling of throwing up runs through me as I wait for Austin's body to be right behind him, but there's no sign of it, "Ally!" Wanda yells at me, standing near my shoes.

She's gesturing for me to get out of the water, but I'm too stunned by what I'm seeing. It's a horrifying sight, and I'm sure to have even more nightmares now. I don't step out of the water until Rick is in it too, dragging me by my arm. Thomas' body was a strange shade of purple, and he was as lifeless as a rock.

"Are you okay?" Wanda asks me, but I'm still staring at the water, praying to God that no other bodies show up.

"I'm fine." I tell her. I slip my shoes on slowly, and we walk back to the plane in silence. I guess none of us knew what to say.

When we get back, Frank is setting up the fire. We all walk up to him, causing him to turn around and look at us with a worried look, "What happened?" he asks. Do we all make it that obvious?

Wanda and I don't say anything, so Rick decides to speak, "We saw Thomas' body floating down the river." He says in one breath.

"But not Austin's body, what if he's alive still? We need to go search for him." I say.

"It's highly unlikely Ally. If Thomas didn't survive the fall, Austin couldn't have either." Frank says.

I give him a death glare. How can he say something like that to me? I shake my head at him, tears forming in my eyes as I walk away. I don't know why I've ever liked Frank. He's just turned into a heartless jerk. How can he think this way about Austin? I know that Austin has not done anything to him, and I know that Austin would be looking for Frank if he were missing; because that's just the type of person Austin is… or was.

I don't know what to think, or what to do about any of this. There's a feeling that he's still alive that I can't shake off. My heart aches for him, aches for his presence. My heart is full of love for this boy that has slipped through my fingertips so many times. But the real question is; is he really alive, or can I just not bring myself to accept reality.

**Author's Note:**

**I must say, i am sort of disappointed in some of the reviews i got. I don't know if most of you were kidding or not, or that you really are that upset with me because of what happened with Austin. But remember folks, this is indeed my story, and i shall write it the way i imagine it should go and i can't please everyone. But don't worry, any negative comments haven't stopped me from writing the story the way i want to, so this is where it was going all along.**

**Thanks for all the kind words too! I love all of you deeply.**


	26. Chapter 26

**This is an important chapter, and might be one of my favorites. I felt like i was really Ally while writing this, feeling all of her emotions. I hope you can capture that feeling too! Enjoy.**

I fell asleep only to slip into nightmares, so I forced my eyes open as I lie here in the plane, waiting for the sun to rise and welcome another horrible day. It will be rising any minute now, and I'll have to deal with another day without Austin, and another days worth of food will be gone too, leaving us with only 3 days left. How are we going to survive after that?

The twins have been getting really restless, wondering where Austin is, and why we haven't been rescued yet. None of us have had the heart to tell them what happened to Austin, not even Frank, which surprises me. Frank has been acting very cold-hearted lately, but maybe I shouldn't blame him. This place changes all of us.

Sammy is taking it harder than Dannie. Dannie just thinks of home, and shares stories with us, sporting a smile on her face sometimes. She knows things are getting worse, but she doesn't seem to let that bother her. She just stays positive, surprisingly.

But Sammy, on the other hand, sits around with complete fear smothered all over her face all the time. She knows something's up, she is more intelligent than most of us. She knows that something bad happened to Austin, and she realizes that bad things are going to happen when we run out of food. I feel really bad for her, that she's taking it this hard like the rest of us. When I was younger, I couldn't figure out all of this stuff on my own.

I start to doze off again, against my will. But a nose wakes me right up. I sit up fast, and feel slightly dizzy from how fast I moved. But I don't care, this noise, it sounds so familiar… It's a… helicopter.

I jump up and run out of the plane. I look up at the sky, practically spinning around in a circle to see if I can see anything. The noise is getting louder and louder, until finally I see it, it is indeed a helicopter, and it's low. I start to wave my hands frantically in the air, "HEY!" I scream.

I keep doing that over and over, eventually waking up everyone else, which makes them all run out of the plane and look where I'm looking. There shocked faces soon go away and they start to help me flag them down. We are all screaming, yelling, crying, and completely freaking out. And that's when the helicopter hovers right over us, and we watch it slowly land right near us. They saw us, they _found_ us.

I watch as Daniel runs over to Tiffany and picks her up, spinning her around in a circle, and hugging intimately. I feel as though they have always had something going on but have been keeping it secret. Even Rick and Wanda are hugging each other with pure join in their faces, and Frank is explaining to the twins what's happening, and their faces immediately light up. And I stand here, alone, realizing that this is when I should be sharing my intimate happy hug with Austin, but I can't do that. I feel the tears sting at my eyes.

Two muscular men jog over, in some sort of rescue team outfits. Just behind them looks like some sort of paramedic. They come over to us, and they are full of questions, in which Frank happily answers them.

"You are all from plane 207?" One of the big guys asks.

"Yes. That one" Frank answers with a grin.

"You guys are the only survivors?" He asks.

I feel sick now, thinking of everything that died. Stacy, Caroline, Thomas…Au-

"Yes we are." Rick says.

He asks a bunch more questions, but I don't care to listen to them. When it's my turn the woman paramedic looks me over. She notices my still swollen wrist, and I realize I've almost forgotten all about it, I guess I just got used to the pain.

"What happened here?" She asks.

"I fell a couple weeks ago." I tell her.

"It's broken, that's for sure. And it's going to take extra long to heal because you haven't been able to treat it." She says.

She looks me over some more but says the doctors at the hospital will really look me over. "Where are we?" I ask her, suddenly realizing that question could finally be answered.

"New Mexico." She says.

I just nod at her, "My friend Austin, he, he fell off of this ledge near the river, and I mean I know you're going to say I'm stupid but, could he still be alive? Should we go looking for him?"

"Austin-?" She's about to ask, but she's interrupted by one of the rescue guys, "We're leaving." He says and tells us to follow.

"But what about," I start and Frank shakes his head at me, "Ally, let it go." He whispers quietly.

I grab my bag and Austin's blanket out of the plane and get in line with the others. But I stand there, and stare back at the plane where I've spent who knows how long and I can't help but feel a lot of mixed emotions. I want to go home more than anything, I want to be rescued like this, and it's all I've wanted. But leaving Austin here like this, has to be the worst feeling of all. This just can't be happening.

They fly us to the hospital, and we all go to separate rooms and have to wait our turn to be checked on. Even this feels weird, being separated from the people I spent all that time with. Sure, I was only close to Austin out of all of them, but I can't help but feel some separation anxiety.

I look around the room, picking up different random things and going straight to the bathrooms so I can wash my face. When I look in the mirror, I almost don't believe that it's me. My hairs a longer than before, in a stringy mess, and there are scratches and scars on my face. I look like someone that just came out of the wild.

I run the water until its extra warm and wash my face slowly, enjoying the warm water. By the time I'm done, I'm finally the normal pale white that I used to me. I walk out into the room and sit down on the bed. I notice on the far side of the room, on the wall, was a calendar. I jump up and go over to it, and it's opened to June.

_June? _June… It was April when we left. We were out there for two months. I mean yeah, it felt like that long but I didn't really think it was. I wonder how worried all of our parents have bee, and how terrible it is going to be for all the parents and family members of the ones that didn't make it. They are just finding out now, and had to deal with not knowing for all of this time.

I sit back down on the bed and that's when a young man walks in, probably in his early thirties, carrying a chart and has a smile on his face, "You're Ally?" he asks.

I just nod, "I'm Dr. Howard. I'm going to check on you and make sure everything's alright, okay? You're dad is on his way." He says.

My face drops, "My d-dad?"I ask, not being able to stop the tears from streaming down my face. I'm going to see my dad again. He knows I'm alive. This just makes me realize how real this really is.

"Yes." He says with a smile.

He checks me over, and takes X-rays on my wrist, which is obviously broken, in two places to be exact. That's the only thing severely wrong with me. I am slightly dehydrated and underweight, but that's no surprise. He sends a young nurse to get me a huge glass of ice water and goes to get my cast ready.

She comes back and hands me the water, which I start sucking it down fast, but she puts her hand up to stop me, "Start slow my dear." She says.

I nod and take a small sip, but when she turns away I take a big gulp. The doctor comes back and puts on my cast. It's red like I requested. And says he'll be back soon to check on me. I lie down on the bed and stare at my cast, not knowing what to do with myself, until I hear the door open. I look and see my dad walk through the door, his eyes full of tears.

I jump out of the bed and run over to him and jump into his arms, "Dad!" I yell, and start crying too.

"I'm so glad your okay." He says, hugging me tighter.

After a while of crying and more hugging, we sit down next to each other on the bed and can't help but ask the question that's been playing in my mind, "Why did it take so long for us to be rescued?" I ask.

"It was hard to find the plane, all the communications and tracking systems went down and there was just no way to track you." He says, "It was hell waiting for answers."

"It was so horrible dad, the whole experience. I don't know how I'm going to be able to become normal again." I say, staring at the sheets on the bed, choking back tears.

"Don't say that Ally, you'll be okay, it just takes time." He says.

I nod in agreement and we sit in silence for a while. Then I suddenly remember something, "Trish! How's Trish? I bet she's been freaking out." I say.

My dad's eyes widen and he nods, "Oh yes she has. But when I got the call about you, I called her right after, so I promised her you would see her when you get home. We fly home tomorrow. They want you to stay overnight so you can get some rest if you don't mind." He says.

"Where are you going to be?" I ask.

"At the hotel that's just across the street. I'm staying with you until you want me to leave though." He says and laughs.

"Okay." I tell him.

After a while of catching up, I get really hungry, so my dad walks me to the cafeteria. When I get there, I see Wanda sitting with Rick and who must be both of their parents, "Ally!" Wanda yells and runs over to me.

She hugs me, and I'm kind of surprised, but I hug her back. "It's so good to be, almost home." She whispers.

I nod, "It really is." I say.

But then her face turns sad, looking over in the far corner. I look over too and it man and a woman. The woman is crying and the man is trying to comfort her, "Those are Thomas' parents." She whispers in my ear.

I look at her in shock, and she nods. I feel really bad for his parents, even though I have a lot of bad feelings toward Thomas, his parents didn't deserve everything they've gone through. I mean, their son isn't coming back alive after worrying about him for so long, and his body isn't even coming back to have a proper burial, that's just awful.

I just shake my head with sadness and go back with my dad, "Who was that?" He asks, referring to Wanda.

"Wanda, she's in my class. She was on the plane." I say.

He nods and we go in line for food. I grab a cheeseburger, which I've been dying for and a big cup of fruit, along with orange juice. We sit down at a table at the other end of the cafeteria and start eating. We eat in silence as I devour the delicious food. I mean, it probably isn't that good because it is hospital food after all, but anything's better than what I have been eating.

When we're both finished, we start talking again. I tell my father stories of the wolves, and the rattlesnake with Caroline. His face shows horror at most of everything I say, like I watched some movie and am telling him all about it. And that's when I'm interrupted by Sammy running over.

"Sammy, what's up?" I ask. She's out of breath and her eyes are huge.

"I have to show you something, come with me, now!" She yells.

She grabs me by the wrist and starts pulling me away from the table. I give my dad a 'sorry' look and jog with her, "Where are we going?" I ask her.

"Just come!" She says and continues to drag me.

When she finally stops, we're in front of a room. I just look at her, and she's staring at me, "What?" I ask her.

"Look," she says and takes a deep breath, "Into the room." She says.

I look in the window at the room, feeling awkward about invading someone's privacy. At first all I see is a hospital room like mine, until I look over at the bed. My heart completely stops when I notice that familiar mop of blonde hair…

**Yes, another cliffhanger, but it's a pretty obvious one. Sorry to leave it at that, but there are only a few chapters left, i'm not sure how many, and i need you to keep coming back for more(;**


	27. Chapter 27

"Is that…" I whisper.

"It is." Sammy says back.

I look at her, and then back to the window. I look at Austin, he's hooked up to many different machines, but not a breathing tube, which I take as a good sign maybe. His shaggy blonde hair is in his face, and there are noticeable scratches on his cheek and chin.

His leg is bandaged up, and his left arm is in a cast. That must be from the fall. _The fall_, I remember. How could he have survived it? I saw him go down with Thomas. I mean, Thomas didn't even survive it. He got lucky, really lucky, and I'm so glad he did.

I go over to the door and turn the doorknob, but it's locked. I turn and look at Sammy with a sad expression, "They aren't letting anyone in until his parents get here, which won't be until tomorrow." She says.

"Are you kidding me?" I moan and sit down in a chair across from the window. She follows me and sits down too, "How do you know?" I ask her.

"I practically begged the doctor to tell me. Oh and I used my puppy dog eyes to get some information out of him." She says.

I raise an eyebrow, "Really? Like what?" I ask.

"They found him first I guess. That's what made them keep looking for us. They thought that he might have been from the plane that went down. He was unconscious when they found him, and he still hasn't woken up." She says.

"That's not good is it?" I ask.

She shakes her head no, "I don't think so, but the doctor didn't make it sound like it was really bad." She says and shrugs.

I swallow hard, thinking of the many possible reasons that he hasn't woken up yet, "I just want to go in there with him. This is torture." I say.

"I know. I can't believe they found him, and us." She says.

"I'm just so glad they did." I say and squeeze her shoulder. She smiles at me and stands up.

"I should get back to Dannie and my parents." She says.

I nod at her and watch her skip as she walks away, acting like carefree Sammy again. I smile at her, but it quickly fades. I stand up and walk over to the window again. I put my hand up to the glass, and watch Austin's chest move up and down slowly. Just knowing he's right here _breathing_, makes my heart almost feel whole again.

I remember that I rudely left my father in the cafeteria, but I can't take my eyes off of Austin. I don't want to leave him like this. I feel so bad that's he locked up in that room all by himself. I wish I was aloud in there, or that his parents would get here sooner. But they probably can't help that, right?

It takes me another ten minutes to bring myself to leave, memorizing his room number perfectly. I jog back to the cafeteria and find my father in the same spot. He smiles at me as I sit down, "What's up?" He asks.

I hadn't really told him much about Austin, just that he helped me out a lot and we cared about each other. And then I told him what happened to him. But he doesn't know anything about how we _really_ feel about each other. I mean, I'm only fifteen, I know he'll think I'm being ridiculous if I tell him how in love I am with this boy.

"Austin! He's alive!" I say with a smile.

"Really, but how?" He asks, surprised.

"I don't know. He's unconscious still, and his parents won't be here until the morning and I'm not allowed in there." I say and sigh.

He puts his hand on mine, "Well the morning will be here before you know it." He says with a smile. I just nod at him.

He walks me back to my room, and notices it's getting pretty late. He gives me a bag he packed for me at home, with my clothes and stuff in it. I hug the bag tightly, looking forward to wearing clean pajamas. "Are you sure it's okay if I leave?" He asks, pacing around the room.

"Yes dad, I'll be fine." I tell him.

After he leaves, I walk into the bathroom and stare at the shower. I run out of the room and grab my pajamas and things, and get in. The warmth of the shower soothes me fast. I almost forgot what it felt like to actually shower.

After washing my hair about 4 different times, and staying in there for about an hour, I decide I'm done. I slip on my clothes and walk into my room, drying my hair with the towel and then sitting down. I look at the time, and it's midnight. I slip on my precious UGG boots that my father packed and walk over to my door.

I open it slowly and peak out. I don't see anyone around, and I take this opportunity to make my way over to Austin's room. I jog quietly over and look in the window. He's still there, it's still Austin, and so I know this is _real_. I sigh in relief and sit on the chair across from the window. I hug my legs to my chest and rest my chin on my knees, keeping my eyes on the window…

"Hey." I hear someone say, and an arm on my shoulder.

I open my eyes and take in my surroundings. I'm still on the chair but everything's so bright, I must have fallen asleep here. I look at the woman who woke me up. She has blonde hair to her shoulders, and has those familiar brown eyes…

"Do you know my son?" She asks, tears are filled in her eyes.

I look behind her, and the man standing behind her looks familiar too, and I can tell just by their looks that they are definitely Austin's parents. I stand up and they watch me. I look into Austin's room and nothing has changed, "Yes. I was one of the students on the plane." I tell them. Would Austin want them to know about me, or us? Or, what even are we?

"Really, do you know what happened to our son?" His father asks, in a hopeful tone.

"I- Well"- I say, but I don't really know where to start. I know I need to tell them about Thomas and everything that happened but I just don't know how to say it. And how will they react about Thomas, will they go confront his parents and cause them more pain? I know Austin would never do that, and if he's anything like his parents, then they won't either.

"Oh, its okay sweetie, you can tell us." His mother says. She motions for me to sit down, and she sits down next to me. His father stands in front of us.

"Well there's this boy, Thomas. He was in our class and also on the plane. There was this fight between him and Austin… Thomas kind of went crazy; I think the whole thing just really got to him. It got to all of us. And he was at the edge of this cliff over the water, and he took Austin and made them both fall over." I say.

His mother covers her mouth and gasps at what I said, and his father shakes his head, "Where's Thomas?" He asks.

"He didn't survive the fall…" I tell him.

"How do you know?" He asks.

"We saw his body floating down the river the next day." I say, barely being able to get the words out.

His father goes slightly pale and turns around, walking into Austin's room. His mother stays seated next to me, her eyes still full of tears waiting to fall out, "I can't believe Austin survived it." She says.

"How is he?" I ask her.

"We don't know. He still hasn't woken up, and we won't know what damage has been done until he wakes up." She says in a squeaky voice.

"But, he is going to wake up, right?" I ask.

She nods, "The doctors said that he should. We just have to be patient." She says.

I nod, "Can I see him?" I whisper to her.

A small smile appears on her face and she nods. I stand up and walk into the room, where his father is standing next to his bed. He notices me and turns around, "I'll leave you alone with him for a bit." He says.

"Thanks." I tell him and bring a chair over next to Austin's bed. I sit down and rest my elbows on the bed, holding my head in my hands.

"You need to wake up." I whisper to him, staring at his face.

I stay that way for a while, until a nurse comes in to change is I.V. She smiles sympathetically at me and does what she needs to. I notice the chart in her hand and ask, "What physical damage did he get because of the fall?" She asks.

"He has a broken arm, and a few severely broken ribs." She says.

"What about his leg?" I ask her.

She raises an eye brow, "Oh, that wasn't from the fall. It looks like some sort of animal bite." She says. And with that, she leaves the room.

I stare at his bandaged leg; an animal bite? Something must have happened after Thomas took me that I don't know about. I jump up and run out of the room, past Austin's parents' shocked expressions of my sudden departure.

I find Wanda and Rick in the cafeteria eating and I run over to them, "What's going on?" Wanda asks surprised.

"Austin's alive." I tell her.

"We know, we saw him earlier, Sammy told us that she told you so we didn't say anything." Rick says.

"What's wrong with his leg, what happened to him?" I ask.

Rick looks from me to Wanda, and sighs, "Oh yeah. You were gone when it happened." He says.

"What happened?" I ask.

"He got bite by a wolf. I, he and Daniel ran into one and Daniel ran and the wolf chased after him. So Austin and I ran after them, and we got to the wolf off of Daniel but it bit Austin. He was losing a lot of blood before everything happened." He says.

"That's awful." I say, shaking my head and sitting down with them.

"I know, he wouldn't rest or anything. He refused to stop looking for you, and that's when we found Thomas at the cabin." Rick says.

"I can tell how much he really cares about you Ally." Wanda says.

I nod, swallowing hard, "I care a lot about him too." I say.

"We know." Rick says with a smile.

I smile back at him and go back to Austin's room. His parents are both sitting down next to his bed. His father's arm is around his mother's shoulders, comforting her. I smile at their backs and sit down in the chair outside and watch through the window. I can tell how much his parents really love him, just by the look on their faces.

My stomach starts to rumble, so I decide to go to the cafeteria real quick. As I'm walking towards it, I run into my dad. "I was looking for you; you weren't in your room." He says, with sweat on his forehead.

I do a face palm, "I'm sorry dad, and I totally forgot that you wouldn't know where I was. I was talking with Austin's parents." I say and walk with him to my room.

"Oh okay. You know, we can leave today." He says and smiles.

I start to smile too, but it slowly fades. He notices and sits down on the chair, "What's wrong?" he asks.

"I really want to go home and everything, but I really don't want to leave Austin." I say.

"Well you can't just continue to stay here, there's nothing wrong with you. The doctors won't let you stay." He says.

I nod, "I know, I just can't leave here." I say.

He sighs, "Well, maybe we can just stay at the hotel for a couple more nights, but we really should get home by the weekend." He says.

I smile wide, "Thanks dad, you're the best!" I say and kiss him on the cheek. I walk out of the room and towards Austin's. His parents aren't anywhere to be seen, so I go in and sit down. I rub his arm slightly with my pointer and middle finger. His skin feels so cold, and I can't help wishing that this was me instead of him. He's the last person on this earth that deserved any of this. Any of his pain, and all of the crap he took from Thomas, just because of me, stupid me.

**I have an important question for you guys. Do you want me to make a sequel to this? If not, then i will write a few more chapters of this. But if so i will be ending it soon and writing a sequel. It's up to you guys! Tell me what you think in the reviews.**

**And don't forget, i love you guys so much !:D**


	28. Chapter 28

I pace around the small hotel room that my father and I are staying in biting off every last bit of my thumb fingernail. My father sits on a chair in the corner of the room, staring at me with sad eyes.

"Will you please stop that?" he asks.

I stop in my tracks and look at him, tilting my head to the side in question but still biting on my fingernail, "Pacing like that, you're making me nervous." He says.

"Sorry." I say and shrug, but I continue to pace anyway.

I stayed by Austin's side until visiting hours were over and the nurse practically kicked me out. Now that I'm not a patient at the hospital, I'm not a loud to stick around after hours, and that completely sucks. So I went back to the hotel and now have to wait until the morning to be with Austin again, and I guess it's driving me insane.

"Are you hungry?" My father asks. I shake my head, even though my stomach would say otherwise.

"It's late and I'm pretty hungry, so I'm going to go down to this restaurant I saw at the end of the road, want me to order you something for later?" he asks, standing up.

"Any kind of soup they have." I say and he nods, knowing what I like. He grabs his car keys off of the bed stand and leaves.

I continue my pacing and my nail biting until I almost start to bleed. I sigh and sit down on my small uncomfortable twin bed and stare out the window. I bounce on the bed slightly, feeling old springs poking at me. I think the hospital bed was more comfortable than this one.

I start to feel guilty about not calling Trish. I was supposed to be home by now and reuniting with her, the least I could do is call. But I just don't have the mental ability right now. I love Trish and all, but I _know_ her, and she will ask so many questions, and I just don't feel like answering any right now. And to be completely honest with myself, I'm afraid of going back home. I'm afraid of dealing with everything, like school and everyone in it.

I'm not the same person I was two months ago, and neither are the rest of us. I think school is just going to be, _different_. And there are a bunch of questions that keep going through my mind like, are the kids at school going to treat me differently? Are they going to act worse towards me, pity me, or just act like they always have? And the biggest question would be; did they even care that I was one of the missing? I know Trish did, of course she did, but I can't say I really had any other friends.

And I guess the thing that's bothering the most is, when Austin wakes up from this –which he will- how is he going to act towards me? Surely his popularity will go down when people figure out he even associates with me. I know that he cares about me, it's pretty obvious, but will going home change things? I shake my head and try to clear my thoughts; I can't bear to think about something like that right now. I must think of the positive things.

My father comes back a little while later with chicken and dumpling soup, my favorite and I totally forgot that I told him I wasn't even hungry. I sit cross legged on my bed, soup in hand and listen to my father tell me stories about his trip here, through bites of his own food.

After we're done eating, I decide to go to bed to stop myself from pacing again. I figured my father would appreciate that. I climb into bed, feeling mentally exhausted. I start to fall asleep fast. I think it's because I know that when I wake up, I'll be able to go and see Austin's angelic sleeping face, and hope that it's his time to wake up.

My alarm clock next to my bed wakes me up, which I set for exactly ten minutes before visiting hours at the hospital. I throw some clothes on, brush my hair, grab my bag and jog over to the hospital. My father was still asleep but he knows where I was going to be going, I doubt he will even worry.

I make my way through the hospital casually. I don't have to go up to the front desk, or explain to anyone why I'm here, because they all know. They all pretty much know and like me. I mean I was just a patient a couple days ago. It's sort of odd to think about. I mean, it's just a hospital in New Mexico, and they are just staff members doing their jobs but it feels like the best place to be right now. But maybes that's just because I was so used to being at the plane crash site that, any place that isn't there, makes me feel better.

As I walk through the main hallway, pass the cafeteria, I hear some commotion. I stop and look into the doorway, and see a man and a woman, standing in front of one of the doctors. The woman is crying hysterically, and the man is shaking his head in what looks like disgust. I can't help but eavesdrop.

"No, she can't be…" The man says, trying to keep a steady voice.

"I'm sorry, she died during the crash. We have her… You can identify her for yourselves if you want." The doctor says in a sad voice.

"Not my baby girl." The woman says loudly and starts sobbing hard again.

The doctor's pager goes off. He takes it off of his side and looks at it, and then back at the couple, "I'm sure Stacy was a lovely girl, I'm so sorry for your loss." He says. The man nods in understanding and the doctor walks off.

My eyes widen; this is Stacy's parents. They are just finding out about this? They must have just flown in. Were they really not notified that she was dead before they arrived? That just seems so cruel; to make them fly in with the hope she may be alive.

My bag suddenly feels heavier than usual. I haven't looked in it since a couple weeks ago. I unzip it and look in, and see Stacy's journal. I completely forgot that I even had it, and the remembrance couldn't have come at a better time. I take a deep breath, and walk into the cafeteria.

Stacy's mother has gotten a little under control, her sobbing is less hysterical, but still there. No one at the tables around us stare at her, I guess they are used to things like this happening here, which is understandable. Stacy's father notices me approaching, and keeps his eyes on me.

I stand in front of them, and clear my throat before speaking. I realize I don't really know what I was planning on saying, but it just comes to me, "Hello. I'm Ally Dawson, I was on the plane with your daughter, and I went to school with her. I know how terrible this is for you, and I'm so sorry for your loss. But I have this, and I think you'd really love to have it." I say.

I hand the book to her father, because I don't think her mother could really handle it right now, though she is watching me hesitantly. He takes the book in his hands and studies it for a moment. He then opens it up and his eyes brighten just a bit when he realizes what it is. He looks at me then and gives me the tiniest of smiles, "Thank you so much for keeping this, it means a lot." He says.

The mother looks at it, and nods in agreement. I nod my head and turn around, and walk away. I know I didn't know Stacy that well, but this tugs at my heart strings pretty bad, and I wipe away a tear as I step out of the cafeteria room.

I walk over slowly to Austin's room, not being able to get over what just happened. It's like everything that went terribly wrong from the plane crash on is replaying in my head, and I can't shake it off. I make it to Austin's room, and there are people standing around his bed. He is completely surrounded and I can't see him. They are all talking, laughing, and acting _happy_. I stand at the doorway and stare like some stalker.

The people around him are his parents, two doctors, and two other blondes, must be other relatives. His mother turns and notices me, and smiles big, "Ally!" She says and runs over. She hugs me tightly and I stare over her shoulder at a sitting up Austin, whose eyes are on me.


	29. Chapter 29

Our eyes lock, and when his mother releases me from her grip, I freeze where I am, looking at him, it's almost like he freezes too. His family sees our reactions and his father clears his throat uncomfortably, "We will give you two a moment." He says, eyeing the doctors. They nod and they all walk out of the room, but I'm still frozen. I don't know why really. I've been waiting for this moment but now I feel like I just won an award and forgot my speech I wrote down.

I feel like I may have turned into a statue, and that I may never breathe again, until his lips go up in that famous Austin Moon smile, and I become alive again. I smile back almost instantly and run over to his bed. I stop right next to it, hesitant; but he opens his arms up wide and I crawl across the bed into his arms and he hugs me tightly; his arms around my neck, and my head against his chest.

I start to cry, because I just couldn't help it. The way his chest is moving slightly makes me think he's choking back his own tears too, but I don't move to look. I have never felt more home than I do right now, right in his warm embrace. We stay like this for minutes, and I find myself paranoid of his parents coming in and seeing us, and question what's going on, but maybe they already know.

Eventually, Austin pulls me away from him so he can look at my face. I stay seated on his lap. I look at him as if I may be crushing him but he shakes his head, "I'm fine." He says.

I just nod, still not able to produce words, but I can't figure out why exactly. He stares at me for a few moments, and brushes a loose piece of hair behind my ear. He looks at my arm and stares at my cast, and then lifts up his also red one, "Great minds think alike." He says with a smile.

I smile back at him, watching his skin go back to a normal pale, instead of the ghostly white he was yesterday. His hair is long and messy, but he couldn't be any more adorable. He notices me looking him over and raises an eyebrow, "Why haven't you talked?" He asks, and then his face turns to worry, "You didn't go silent on us again did you?"

I shake my head, "No, sorry. I just," – I stop and shrug, "I planned the words I'd say to you when you woke up, and now that you have and we're here, I'm speechless." I say.

"Then don't say anything." He says.

I'm about to question what he means, but before I can react, he leans in and kisses me. It's not a soft peck on the lips, and it's not a rough, heated kiss. It's one of those, where the hell have you been my whole life, romance movie kisses, and it completely takes my breath away.

When he pulls away we share a smile and he starts playing with a button on my sleeve. But my face suddenly turns serious, and I almost regret asking, but I can't help myself, "Austin… How did you _survive_ that fall?" I ask.

"I don't even know. I guess I just got really lucky." He says, "I was knocked out instantly, I hardly remember anything about it."

"Well, at least you remember me." I say and smile.

"I could never forget you." He says with a smile, and kisses me softly on the lips for just a few seconds.

His face changes fast and he says, "I just can't shake off this feeling that Thomas helped me survive the fall. I don't know how or why he would, but I just can't get rid of that feeling." He says and shivers slightly.

I raise an eyebrow, "That is weird."

He just shrugs in response and silence between us occurs. His parents walk in then, and I jump off of him, sitting on the bed next to him, I bet I didn't look guilty or anything…

"I know you kids are over happy about your reunion but Austin still needs his rest." His mother says nicely.

"Mom, I've been resting for days…" Austin says.

"I know but you still need time to heal." Austin's father says.

I stand up and look at Austin with a pained expression, but turn to his parents and smile, "I understand Mr. and Mrs. Moon, I'll be going now."

"No." Austin says.

They give him a dirty look at I turn to him. I can tell by his face that he doesn't want me to leave, but I don't want his parents to hate me already, "I know. I'll be back." I say. He nods and I walk out of the room, walking slowly by the window, he watches me leave.

I don't blame his parents, I know they are worried about him and they don't want him to get worse. I walk over to the cafeteria and grab a drink and sit down. I sigh and stare at my jug of orange juice and wait patiently. But I really don't know what I'm waiting for. Will they let me come back and visit him soon, or do I have to wait until tomorrow?

I watch the boy who I thought was his brother walk in and grab something to eat. He notices me and walks over, sitting down across from me. I don't say anything, I just watch him.

"So you're Ally." He says.

"Uh… Yeah…" I say.

"Austin said your name right when he woke up. I mean _right_ when he woke up. We were all gathered around him, ecstatic he was awake, and all he can say is, "Ally, where's Ally?" He says.

I don't know what to say, but I can't help the smile that appears on my face. The boy smiles back and he has the same smile as Austin's. Man, this family really likes to share their looks, "You must be very special to him."

"You must be Aaron." I say.

He raises an eyebrow, "You've heard of me? I'm surprised Austin would say anything about me." He says and laughs. I laugh too. Austin didn't particularly say anything _nice_ about him but he doesn't need to know that.

"Don't take anything my parents do or say personally by the way. They are just really protective over us kids." He says.

"Yeah, they kind of made me leave a few minutes ago…" I say.

"Yeah, they just want to make sure Austin's okay. From the sounds of it, he's definitely lucky to be alive." He says.

"He is." I say and nod. He has the same blonde hair, but it's extremely short. He also has blue eyes, something he didn't get from the other Moons.

"Austin's a good kid, I'm glad he's okay." He says.

"He really is. He saved me in many ways during this whole thing." I say.

He nods and stands up, "Well, I'm going to go in there and make sure our parents aren't bothering him too much, and I'll get you in for another visit soon." He says and winks.

"Thanks." I say with a smile and watch him walk away.

I go back to the hotel and hang out with my parents for a while. They figured I had gone to the hospital like I assumed so they weren't mad when I returned.

"Austin's awake!" I say happily.

"Really, that's great news!" My mom says happily.

"Great!" My father cheers.

"I know." I say and sit down.

"Why are you home so soon then?" My mother asks.

"His parents didn't really want me to stick around too long, they want him to rest." I say.

"Understandable." My father says. I just shrug in response.

I wait a while, and after we eat some gross room service food, I head over to the hospital. I hope that Aaron said something to them, because I'm kind of afraid to go back in there. I walk down the hallway and start walking slowly when I get near his room. I peak in the window and no one's in there with him. He's sitting up, staring at a tray of food.

I walk in and when he sees me his face lights up, "Hi." He says.

I go over to him and sit next to him on the bed. I look at his tray of food and then to him, "That food tastes great after not eating normal food in months." I say.

"I was too upset to eat because I missed you." He says.

I smile, "Well, I'm here now, so eat up." I say.

"Yes ma'am." He says and I giggle.

I watch him eat his food and we talk about random things, like my parents and his brother. He said he was surprised at how Aaron acted towards me. Apparently he never approves of girls that like him, but I'm apparently special.

"I saw Stacy's parents today." I blurt out, not really sure why I said anything.

His eyes drop to his hands, "How did that go?" He asks.

"Not very good, it was hard to see. But I gave them Stacy's journal I had found a while ago, and I think they really appreciated it." I say.

He looks at me, "That was nice of you to keep and do." He says, taking his hand and touching my cheek.

I just shrug, "I thought it was the least I could do." I say.

He nods in agreement and pulls me into a kiss. I smile against his lips, and he does the same, "Ally, I love you." He says. His words bring me back to when he sang to me and told me he thought he might be in love with me, but this time there was no '_I think'_.

"I love you too Austin." I say.

**Author's Note:**

**Okay guys, here's the dealio. There are only going to be a few more chapters left, and i'm sorry but i will not be writing a Sequel. I know a lot of you wanted it, but i just think it's better this way. I hope you agree! Thanks so much for reading it.**

**Oh, and if any of you have heard of the webite , it allows you to publish your story's and sell them. Well i'm taking this story and publishing it on there! But the only problem is i obviously do not own Austin and Ally and Trish so i had to change their names! but it's the same story, but there names are different!**

**Love you all!**


	30. Chapter 30

We both smile at each other, but I can't stop my thoughts from going all over the place. My smile slowly fades and Austin tilts his head to the side, studying me, "What's wrong?" He asks.

I sigh, "I just can't stop thinking about what it's going to be like when we get home." I say.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, school is going to be a lot different now… Three of our classmates are gone. And the ones that survived like us are going to be changed. How are the other kids at school going to treat us, you know?" I ask.

"Well, it's going to be tough on everyone when they find out who… didn't make it. But I don't think they will really treat us any different. Sure, when we get back they might stare at us, they might come over to us and say there happy we're alive even though we've hardly even spoken to them, and then in a couple months it will be pushed to the back of their minds." He says.

"You really think so?" I ask.

He nods, "Yeah. And I know what you're thinking…"

"What?" I ask him, confused.

"You think that because we weren't even friends before the crash that things are going to go back to that. But they aren't Ally. I don't care what anyone thinks of us, you're the only girl I want to be with and I hope that you feel that way too." He says. It's weird that he knew how I was thinking, but maybe I'm just easy to read.

"I believe you." I tell him.

He takes my hand in his and kisses it softly, "Good."

"I'm flying home tomorrow…" I say.

"I have to stay here another week." He says.

I sigh, "So we're going to be separated again." I say.

"We've dealt with it many other times, I think we'll live." He says and smiles.

"That is true." I reply, returning a smile.

**Two weeks later…**

I wait impatiently in my living room with Trish, eyeing the door. She rolls her eyes at me and grabs a handful of chips from the bag lying on the coffee table, "He's going to be here soon, but it's going to feel like forever if you keep staring out there like that." She points out.

The day I came back, I went straight to her house. It was an emotional reunion. But I'm glad that I had to be apart from her for two months, because it's a lot better than her being on that plane too, and there being a possibility of losing her.

She told me school had skipped a lot of school when she found out about the crash, and waited for news about me, she never gave up hope. But seeing how school has been out for the summer, we don't really know how the other kids reacted to the deaths of Thomas, Stacy and Caroline. But it starts back next week, and I'm sort of nervous, but I know that I will have Blake and Sophia by my side and that makes me feel better.

Austin was released from the hospital last night and flew in this morning. He promised he would come to my house right after, because I haven't seen him in two weeks. It's been hard, but knowing that he's okay and I will see him again helped me get through it, plus he called me almost every night.

I hear a door slam outside and jump up, "See, I told you if you didn't pay attention…" Sophia starts but I ignore her and walk over to the front door. He's on crouches for his leg. The bite wound still needs time to heal.

I open the door for him and hug him instantly, almost knocking him off balance. He moans slightly, because I forgot about his ribs and hugged him too tight. I jump back from him, "I'm sorry." I say.

"It's fine, get back here." He says.

I hug him again, softly this time and guide him into my house. My father is sitting at the table, waiting for Austin's parents to walk in. They are apparently having coffee together, because Austin and I decided to tell them that we are more than just friends.

He and I go in the living room with Trish after I said hi to his parents. Trish walks up to us and looks him up and down, "Looking, uh, beat up." She says.

"Trish." I say and shoot her a dirty look.

Austin laughs, "I know. You're looking…" He says and raises an eyebrow.

"Don't even." She says, causing the three of us to laugh.

I help him sit down on the couch and cuddle up against his side. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and kisses me on the forehead, "It's good to be home." He says.

"I think I've always been home…" I say.

"Which would be where?" He asks.

"Anytime I was in your arms." I say. He smiles big, and so do I.

"That was pretty cheesy, but really sweet." Trish says.

We both turn to her and I give her another dirty look. She puts her hands up in surrender, "Jeez, tough crowd." She says as she gets up and walks into kitchen.

After a few hours, my father and Austin's parents come into the living room. My father sits down on the chair and Austin's parents stand in the doorway, "We should get going." They say.

Austin nods and I help him up and hand him his crutches, "I'll call you tonight?" He says and kisses me on the cheek.

"Yes." I say and walk them to the door.

I wave goodbye as they get in their cars and go back inside. Trish walks back into the room, "I should get going so I'll see you tomorrow." She says and then leaves.

I sit down across from my father and wait for him to speak, "They seem like a nice family." He says.

"I'm glad you think that way." I say.

"I'm glad you're home safe, and happy." He says.

"So am I." I say.

**Author's Note:**

**Okay so there are only one or two chapters left after this! Hope you're still enjoying it.  
I didn't realize i can't post links so, if anyone wants to know how to find Mayday on the publishing website. It's lu lu . com, type in Mayday and the info about the book will sound like this but their names are Anna and Blake. There's a different ending in that book than on here.**

**Anywho, thanks for reading! Love you guys.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Sorry for taking forever to review. I hope my readers didn't give up on me!**

When I woke up this morning, I felt like I was starting my first day of high school all over again. I was nervous, like really nervous. I mean, it is the beginning of my sophomore year, but I don't even care about that. I don't know what to expect, and I don't know how to mentally prepare myself. So I just… don't.

I sit down and stare into my bowl of cereal. My father left already, so I'm alone. I twirl my spoon around, hitting the sides of my bowl. My cereal is now mushy, and my milk has turned into different colors, but I don't mind, I wasn't that hungry anyway.

I throw out the mush in my sink and rinse out the bowl. When I'm done, I walk into the living room and grab my back pack off of the coffee table. I look at the clock hanging on the wall, and I have a half hour until school starts. I'm walking there, and it only takes about ten minutes, so I decide to sit out on my porch. I need some air anyway.

I sit down on the step and stare at my hands that are cupped on my lap. I don't feel like the old Ally today. I'm definitely not the same girl I was before the crash. I can feel the changes within myself, and I can't say if I like them or not.

I'm so far into my daydream, that I hear someone clearing their throat, causing me to come back to reality. When I look up, Austin is standing on the bottom step, smiling wide at me. I stand up and look at him, "What are you doing here?" I ask with a smile.

"Oh, I can leave if you want…" he says and starts to turn his crutches.

"Hey! That's not what I meant. It's just; I was supposed to meet you at school, so I'm surprised." I say, and walk down the stairs and stand beside him.

"Yes, I wanted to surprise you." He says and leans down, kissing me softly.

"Surprises are good." I say with a smile.

"Let's go." He says.

I raise an eyebrow, "I don't know Austin… Should you really be walking to the school like that?" I ask him.

"Yeah it's fine, trust me." He says.

We walk together in silence for a while. The only sounds around us are the birds chirping and the sounds of cars driving by. I want to Austin to say something… anything. But he doesn't. So I decide that I mind as well do it myself, "So, are you nervous?" I ask him.

"Me?" He asks and laughs, "Of course not." He says.

"Of course not…" I repeat and sigh. Is Austin ever nervous about anything?

"What's the matter?" He asks.

I shrug, "I don't know. I'm kind of nervous I guess." I say.

"There's nothing to be nervous about really, no one's going to act different." He says.

"Are you sure? I mean, they are going to be totally shocked that thee Austin Moon is dating lame Ally Dawson." I say.

"Please don't talk about yourself like that. And plus, I don't care what anybody thinks, even though I doubt that's what they are going to think." He says.

Before I can reply, he speaks again, "And another thing, why do you care so much what people think?" he asks.

"I don't really know." I say, because honestly; I don't. I've always cared so much about what people think of me but I haven't really realized until now that, their opinions do not matter.

"Well you really shouldn't. You're better than that Ally." He says.

"I think you're right." I say.

I follow Austin into the front doors of the school, where everyone is just doing their own thing, like usual. He walks me to my locker, and that's when people start staring, but I don't think they are staring because we are together, I think they are just staring at Austin.

I open up my new locker and shove my notebooks and bag into it. Austin leans casually against the locker next to mine, "Austin…" I whisper.

"What?" he asks with a small smile.

"I think everyone is staring at you." I say, eyeing a girl leaning against a locker across from us, who is visibly staring.

"So?" he asks while his smile widens.

"Isn't it freaking you out?" I ask.

He laughs, "No, are you kidding? I expected that. I mean I'm like a cat with nine lives. Everyone knows about my story by now." He says.

I roll my eyes, "I see you've changed a lot." I say in a sarcastic tone.

I see Wanda notice me from down the hall and she runs over. She squeals my name and grabs me in a big hug. I've pretty much gotten used to them.

"Hi Ally!" She says.

"Hi." I say and hug her back.

"You should hear what people have been saying!" She says happily.

I cringe and look at Austin who shakes his head at me. He grabs my wrist and pulls me to him so he can put his arm around me as he leans against the locker for support.

"What have they been saying?" Austin asks.

"That you and Ally are the new cutest couple ever!" She says, "Well, beside me and Rick."

My mouth drops slightly, "Really?" I ask.

"Um… Yeah. Couldn't you tell Rick and I had something between us?" She says.

I laugh, "Yes, I wasn't saying really to that." I say.

"Oh, you said it about you and Austin. Yes really." She says.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about." Austin says.

The bell rings loudly, and everyone scatters to their classrooms. Wanda waves goodbye and goes off in the other direction. I hand Austin his crutches and look at my paper, "I have history." I say.

"I do too." He says.

"Awesome!" I say.

We both walk into the classroom and everyone falls silent and stares at us. I stop too, and Austin practically runs into me. The teacher notices and walks over to us. I've seen her around before, her name is Miss James.

"Welcome back to school Miss Dawson and Mr. Moon. I speak for the whole class when I say, I'm glad you're both okay." She says with a smile.

"Thank you." Austin says, and I nod with a smile.

The whole class is still staring at us when a girl that was in one of my classes last year stands up, and does the oddest thing… She starts to clap. I look at her confused and that's when the rest of the class stands up and mimics her actions. Why are they _clapping_?

"Why are they clapping?" I whisper back to Austin.

"They are welcoming us home Ally." He whispers in my ear.

And this is when I know… Everything's going to be just fine.

_I'll always remember this experience; the terrifying parts, the traumatizing parts, the sad parts. I know they will haunt me forever, but I know that I have Austin to help me get through it, just like he helped me get through it before. It's made me a stronger person, and even a different person._

_I think of life differently now. I think I just sort of took it for granted before, but after watching people I know die, it made me realize how short life really is, and how it can be taken from you in a second. From now on, I'm going to live everyday like it could be my last and I'm not going to hide from my fears. _

_Tragedies change your life, but you don't have to let them change you forever._

_**The End.**  
_

_****_**Author's Note: I hope the ending wasn't too terribly cheesy for you guys, but that's what i came up with! I hope you liked it! I am so sad to be ending this story, because i feel like i really accomplished something with this story because of... you guys! Your reviews have mean't the world to me and i'm so happy you liked my story! This won't be my last story, i am definitely going to continue writing so i hope you check out my future projects!  
Love you guys!**


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